2008 Aage Jørgensen

My work as a Hans Christian Andersen scholar spans more than four decades. It can be divided into three categories, namely 1) bibliography; I have recorded the secondary literature about Hans Christian Andersen since his ­death in three volumes, covering the ­years 1875 to 1968, 1969 to 1994 and 1995 to 2006; they were published in 1970, 1995 and 2007, respectively. 2) Co-edition of the publications of the proceedings of the international Hans Christian Andersen conferences in Odense in 1991, 1996 and 2005, and of the Saint Petersburg and Amsterdam seminars in 1996 and 2005, respec­tively. 3) a long list of scientific essays, published in anthologies and journals (including the Anderseniana) and dis­cussing, among other things, Hans Christian Andersen’s ambivalence towards modernity. In recognition of my achievements, I received the Hans Christian Andersen Bursary of the ­Danish Authors’ Society in 1999, and the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2008. Those recognitions came late in my career as a scholar, but it has been a great pleasure to accept them, as they emphasize that also scholarly achievements such as the above have an obvious place among the variety of research and promotional efforts to keep up the world fame of Hans Christian Andersen.

Aage Jørgensen