A Story from the Dunes originally published in 1859. Translated from the Danish.
Contents:
A story from the dunes -- Everything in its proper place! -- What one can come up with -- What old Joanne had to tell -- Jutland (a poem).
Summary:
"A Story from the Dunes is one of Andersen's later narratives, combining the immediacy of his fairy tales with a complexity of construction as intricate as any in 19th-century fiction. Paul Binding is the first English translator to recognise this story's true nature, placing it beside The Ice Virgin (also in Angel Classics) at the summit of the classic European novella tradition. In this selection it is accompanied by a delicious sampling of other stories set in the real world, far less known in English than the fairy tales, with an essay by Andersen on Jutland, the setting of the title story, and an account of how he came to write the novella. A Story from the Dunes narrates the life of the son of a high-born Spanish couple born literally out of shipwreck, who grows up to all intents and purposes Danish among the seafaring folk of the Jutland peninsula, knowing nothing of his origins, and whose adult life pursues a downward path until he attains, tragically, a state of grace. The shorter tales in this selection vary in mood, but all carry Andersen's characteristic whimsy, light but deadly serious: the social/political satire Everything in its Right Place, the mischievous What One Can Think Of, about a would-be writer who can't think of anything to write about, and one of Andersen's very last stories, the elegiac What Old Johanne Told."--Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.