Two centuries after the birth of famed Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen, his legacy lives on in children's fairytales and Disney movies such as "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "The Little Mermaid." In honor of Andersen's bicentenary next month, the Cotsen Children's Library will host an international conference to bring together scholars, actors and filmmakers in celebration of his achievements.
Titled "Hidden But Not Forgotten: The Legacy of Hans Christian Andersen in the Twentieth Century," the conference will feature presentations of numerous scholarly papers on Andersen's writings and legacy, as well as film screenings, theatrical renditions of Andersen's tales and live storytelling.
Cotsen's celebration, scheduled for Nov. 10 through 12, is one of several major international events occurring in conjunction with the "HCA2005" festivities in Denmark commemorating Andersen's 200th birthday.
"We are celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of one of the world's greatest writers," said Cotsen curator Andrea Immel, a co-organizer of the conference.
The conference is open to the public. Expected attendance is "hard to tell," curatorial assistant Eric Johnson said. In the past, similar events have drawn roughly 50 attendees, Johnson said, but attendance "varies per conference, within the three days, and depends on exposure and the level of interest outside the Princeton community."
The conference is "part of the library's mission to promote research in the field of children's literature," Immel said.
"Every year since 1997, we have hosted an annual conference on a subject that reflects a research aspect here, although some have been exclusively working conferences," Immel added, referring to conferences that were specific in scope and not advertised to the community at large.
The Andersen celebration marks the fifth major conference the library has hosted, and the second to focus on a particular author. Last year, Beatrix Potter's biographer spoke about the author and preservationist's life after writing children's books.
This year's conference is not Cotsen's only project celebrating Andersen's contributions to children's literature. From Oct. 9 through Mar. 26, the library will host a new exhibition called "Wonderful Stories for Pictures: Hans Christian Andersen and His Illustrators" in Firestone Library's Millberg Gallery.
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