Fairy Tales (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Hans Christian Anderson was out of his mind, but in a good, creative way. The theme that emerges the clearest in these tales is that life's underdogs and outcasts can and do overcome the odds, and their true inner beauty trumps all the vain, pompous, so-called "winners" in life in the end. I totally enjoyed these stories and no, not all of them have a happy ending. In fact, there is a dark aspect to many of them that lingers over at least some of the collection.. Metaphors and symbolism abound, but are not too obscure with a bit of pondering and thought. One can also tap into his or her "inner kid" and just enjoy the whimsy of inanimate objects talking, animals and birds assisting characters a la Disney, both good and evil witches popping up here and there, queens, and princesses. (Hans had a thing for "princesses", even though it was suspected that it was the brothers of the "princesses" in his own life that really got his boat floating. Being "out of the closet" wasn't much of an option in those days.) This collection is truly wonderful because it has a great Introduction that tells you much about the author and includes charming illustrations by Hans himself. He was apparently quite an oddity in appearance, mannerisms, and personality, yet he soared as a writer in his time and enjoyed both great fame and wealth. No mere "ugly duckling" he... This is one marvelously entertaining and beautifully translated book, and it's a treasure. Highly recommended, and makes a wonderful gift.

This version of Anderson's tales are very beautifully translated. I like to read aloud to kids.

Got it for a class, but I love it! The translations are almost perfect (a few miss the mark a little). Doesn't have all the tales, but still pretty enjoyable!

These aren't for your children's consumption! It is nice to read the original stories - I think most people will agree that although we may have heard them the original way - they are far too scary for this generation!

Wonderful stories

It's difficult to convey cultural humor and wit from one language to another, but Nunnally's is the best translation I've read for Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales.

great!

How racist and misogynistic these stories were. Awful.

ページの端が段々に切ってあって、不良品かと思いましたがどうやら古さを演出するための製本のようですペンギン・ブックスらしい安定した読みやすい活字と訳文でなめらかで読みやすい英文が個人的に大好きですこの本には以下の物語が収録されています火うち箱小クラウスと大クラウスエンドウ豆の上に寝たお姫さま親指姫旅の道連れ人魚姫裸の王様しっかり者のスズの兵隊野の白鳥（白鳥の王子）空とぶトランク小夜啼鳥（サヨナキドリ）仲よしみにくいアヒルの子もみの木雪の女王赤い靴羊飼いの娘とエントツ掃除人影法師古い家マッチ売りの少女ある母親の物語首輪*鐘沼の王の娘風は物語る雪だるま氷姫木の妖精*とても信じられないこと歯いたおばさん(*印が付いているものは日本語版が存在していないか検索しても邦題が出ないので勝手につけました)

While I was very impressed how quickly the book arrived (within 2 days to Belgium)! I did not appreciate the translation as it contained far too many Christian references for my taste: almost all the stories had characters either praying for holy intervention or were praying to help them out of difficult situations. That in itself would have been fine - but given that we are a mixed religion household it was too one-sided, overtly relgious for us. We stopped reading the stories about 1/3 of the way through. I was very disappointed as I wanted my children to share in the stories that I so loved as a child. Will need to find a secular version.

this is the most extraordinary collection of Hans Christian Anderson's stories and the introduction was wonderful and insightful. I have read fairy tales from all over the world and Hans is truly unique. Some of these are not only his retellings of old stories but his own unique stories like the Little mermaid and the ugly duckling. This book is perfect and has inspired art work that i have made over the last 6 years when i bought my first copy of it, having to replace it as i left it in australia. We are the lucky ones that get to enjoy it

the whole book had a very vintage feel to it fom the cover illustration to the thich rough cut pages