The Snowman (fairy tale)

"The Snowman" (Danish: Sneemanden) is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a snowman who falls in love with a stove.[1] It was published by C.A. Reitzel in Copenhagen as Sneemanden on 2 March 1861.[2] Andersen biographer Jackie Wullschlager describes the tale as a lyrical and poignant complement to Andersen's "The Fir-Tree" of December 1844.[3]

The Snowman
by Hans Christian Andersen
The Hanfstaengl portrait of Andersen July 1860
Original title	Sneemanden
Country	Denmark
Language	Danish
Genre(s)	Literary fairy tale
Published in	New Fairy Tales and Stories. Second Series. First Collection. 1861. (Nye Eventyr og Historier. Anden Række. Første Samling. 1861.)
Publication type	Fairy tale collection
Publisher	C.A. Reitzel
Media type	Print
Publication date	2 March 1861
Chronology
← Preceded by What the Old Man Does is Always Right Followed by → In the Duck Yard

According to Anne Klara Bom and Anya Aarenstrup from the H. C. Andersen Centre of University of Southern Denmark, "it is correct to point to the very ambivalent (and also very traumatic) elements in Andersen's emotional life concerning the sexual sphere, but it is decidedly just as wrong to describe him as homosexual and maintain that he had physical relationships with men. He did not. Indeed, that would have been entirely contrary to his moral and religious ideas, aspects that are quite outside the field of vision of Wullschlager and her like."[4][5]

Scharff as Gennaro in Bournonville's ballet Napoli, 1860

An illustration c. 1870 from "The Snowman": "He had been born amid the triumphant shouts of the boys, and welcomed by the jingling of sleigh bells and the cracking of whips from the passing sleighs." ("The Snowman". H.C. Andersen, translated by Jean Hersholt, 1949)