The Ice Virgin
Essential Novellas and Stories
Will be published approx. on 19. November 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
224 pages
978-1-80533-287-9 (ISBN)
Description
In these two novellas and three short stories for adult readers, Hans Christian Andersen displays the imagination and descriptive brilliance familiar from his fairy tales, but turns his eye to subtler social themes: class mobility in a changing Europe; the unfairness with which talents and opportunities are meted out in this world; the struggle between nature's claims on humanity and civilization's.
The title novella, The Ice Virgin, unites all these ideas in a piece of beautifully structured storytelling considered by some to be Andersen's masterpiece. Rudy is orphaned young, rescued as an infant from a glacial crevasse where his mother fell and died. He lives, but the stunning yet unforgiving mountain landscape of Switzerland may yet claim him. His love for the rich miller's daughter Babette brings out all his bravery and ingenuity - but also his stubbornness and resistance to change. In a masterfully ambivalent climax Andersen makes us wonder what happiness and fulfilment truly mean.
Elsewhere in the collection Andersen turns his gaze to the hostile shores and wooded heights of Denmark's Jutland, where in his time submissive poverty was giving way to feverish social transformation. We meet a shipwrecked youngster struggling to fit into his adopted community, a couple whose wise humility echoes down the wealthy generations that follow with comically unexpected effects, and a steadfast friend whose saintly patience is ill rewarded by the object of her loyalty. Full of irony, enchanting imagery and bravura prose, these stories showcase Andersen's perceptiveness, empathy, and deep engagement with the world around him.
The title novella, The Ice Virgin, unites all these ideas in a piece of beautifully structured storytelling considered by some to be Andersen's masterpiece. Rudy is orphaned young, rescued as an infant from a glacial crevasse where his mother fell and died. He lives, but the stunning yet unforgiving mountain landscape of Switzerland may yet claim him. His love for the rich miller's daughter Babette brings out all his bravery and ingenuity - but also his stubbornness and resistance to change. In a masterfully ambivalent climax Andersen makes us wonder what happiness and fulfilment truly mean.
Elsewhere in the collection Andersen turns his gaze to the hostile shores and wooded heights of Denmark's Jutland, where in his time submissive poverty was giving way to feverish social transformation. We meet a shipwrecked youngster struggling to fit into his adopted community, a couple whose wise humility echoes down the wealthy generations that follow with comically unexpected effects, and a steadfast friend whose saintly patience is ill rewarded by the object of her loyalty. Full of irony, enchanting imagery and bravura prose, these stories showcase Andersen's perceptiveness, empathy, and deep engagement with the world around him.
Reviews / Votes
At once sparkling and frighteningly deep, like the glaciers that cut through the mountain passes of Switzerland in the 1850s . . . The Ice Virgin marshals both surface and subterranean effects; we feel huge things moving beneath the crust of events. Andersen's writing is a joy. Several times I had to put the book down to recover from his exquisite descriptions * Wall Street Journal * Striking the perfect balance between fairy tale atmosphere and eerie narrative for the adult reader, Paul Binding's new translation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Ice Virgin vividly depicts the eternal struggle between the forces of nature and the forces within ourselves. * Linda Schenck, translator of Selma Lagerloef and Kerstin Ekman *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pushkin Press
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-80533-287-9 (9781805332879)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was born in Odense, Denmark, the son of a shoemaker and a washerwoman. His father died when he was eleven. He left home for Copenhagen at the age of fourteen and immediately made an impression on the capital's artistic community with his precocious literary talent. He gained sponsorship from the Danish elite and received an education and the opportunity to travel widely throughout Europe. He became one of world literature's most beloved children's authors, celebrated in his lifetime and ever after, and lending his name to the world's most prestigious children's literature prize. As well as his famous fairy stories he wrote novels, novellas, plays, travelogues, autobiographies and verse for readers of all ages.