Open this publication in new window or tab >>2009 (English)In: Cold Matters: Cultural Perceptions of Snow, Ice and Cold, Umeå: Umeå University and Royal Skyttean Society , 2009, p. 191-207Chapter in book (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
Like all H. C. Andersen's stories, the fairy tale The Snow Queen (1844) is a text with many links to the tradition of Romanticism. This article concentrates on (a) Andersen's use of symbols, especially ice and snow; (b) the three-fold composition in the story, and (c) the allegorical structure. These levels in Andersen's text are placed in the framework of a larger Romantic ideology or philosophy. When focusing on the Romantic tradition in a larger sense, special attention will be paid to the female protagonist in the story in relation to the male and/or Faustian ideal, whose origins are to be found in Goethe's drama Faust. Within the allegorical scheme special attention will be paid to Lilith, also appearing in Faust, and to 1 Cor. 13, a text where the distorted mirror and the divergence between child and adult are key symbols, as in Andersen's tale. Finally, the tale's female protagonist Gerda is interpreted as the bearer of Rousseau's educational ideas and the Christian notion of agape.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Umeå: Umeå University and Royal Skyttean Society, 2009
Series
Northern studies monographs: Umeå University and the Royal Skyttean Society, ISSN 2000-0405 ; 1
Keywords
H. C. Andersen, The Snow Queen, Goethe, Faust, Rousseau, Paul, 1 Cor., allegory, agape
National Category
Didactics
Research subject
Swedish and Education
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-20726 (URN)7690d5b0-c310-11de-b769-000ea68e967b (Local ID)978-91-88466-70-9 (ISBN)7690d5b0-c310-11de-b769-000ea68e967b (Archive number)7690d5b0-c310-11de-b769-000ea68e967b (OAI)
Note
Validerad; 2009; 20091027 (ysko)
2016-09-292016-09-292021-11-04Bibliographically approved