Savinien

@actuallyautistic

Today is International Children's Book Day, World Autism Acceptance Day, and the birthday of my current Special Interest protagonist, Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875).

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#InternationalChildrensBookDay #IBBY #WorldAutismAcceptanceDay #AutismAcceptanceDay #WAAD #HansChristianAndersen #Autistic #ActuallyAutistic #AutisticPride #WeirdPride #SpecialInterest #SpecialInterests #Authors #ScandinavianAuthors #DanishAuthors #RejectionSensitiveDysphoria #RSD

Apr 2, 2023 at 3:45pmWeb
Show threadSavinienApr 2, 2023
International Children's Book Day was invented to fall on HCA's birthday. But I'm also quite convinced that Hans Christian Andersen was #autistic, as we now think of it.
Show threadSavinienApr 2, 2023
That idea isn't original to me, I'm no expert, and I can only read him in English-language translation - but having inhaled several biographies, nearly all his fiction for adults, most of the fairy tales/short stories, his memoirs, and a hearty chunk of his travel writing and diaries, I think I have at least a starter sense of this guy. And he was a freaking genius, though limited by the mores of his own time and place, as we all are.
Show threadSavinienApr 2, 2023
Even the sympathetic biographers will describe his "naivete," his "eccentricities," his "neurotic" concerns, his "self-absorption," and "sexual confusion" - as though Andersen lacked insight into the way he himself worked. On the contrary, I think he understood himself extremely well. What he lacked, for better or worse, were the terms that we now have, like "autistic," "anxiety" and "queer as heck."
Show threadSavinienApr 2, 2023
A lot of his "eccentricities" read to me like clever ways to work around the differences in communication he had with nearly everyone, and to manage his anxiety, RSD, and frequent heartbreak - enabling him to do really courageous things like leave home at 14 to seek his fortune, try a bunch of different art forms, self-publish, travel all over Europe and Asia, and climb Mount Vesuvius during an eruption. (I can't get over that last one.)
Show threadSavinienApr 2, 2023
In addition, at least as a kid/teen, he thrived on being different, constantly flaunting his writing and performance talents as if bearing an unwritten banner that said yeah I'm a big loud poetic theatrical sissy artsy weirdo, don't you LOVE IT? And, splendidly, a lot of people did, and still do. Andersen's work is known, read, and adapted the world over.
Show threadSavinienApr 2, 2023
Maybe you already resonate with "The Princess on the Pea" or "The Ugly Duckling" - just two bits of his reams of writing that speak not only to human experience, but to autistic-style human experience. The Ugly "Duckling" suffers because everyone requires him to be a duck when he's simply not a duck. When he's allowed to be a swan, to be the way he is, he thrives.
Show threadSavinienApr 2, 2023
Andersen said of himself (loosely translated), "I know, I'm like one that fell from the skies," that he was a "spiritual amphibian" who couldn't decide whether he "belonged to the physical world or to the dreamworld," and "They complain that I stoop. So what? It is the way I naturally walk."
Show threadSavinienApr 2, 2023
If you like this, you could
Read a cheery (and subversive) fairy tale: https://andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/EverythingInItsProperPlac_e.html
Read a scary fairy tale: https://andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheShadow_e.html
Visit the website of the Hans Christian Andersen museum in his hometown (available in several languages): https://hcandersenshus.dk/
Learn more about International Children's Book Day: https://www.ibby.org/awards-activities/activities/international-childrens-book-day
Hans Christian Andersen : Everything in its Proper Place

Hans Christian Andersen: life and works - research, texts and information