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Was H. C. Andersen ace?


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I have a lot of thoughts about whether H. C. Andersen was an ace or not.

This guy is still the most famous danish writer to have lived. You can read about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Christian_Andersen#Love_life

try scrolling down to the "love life" part.

I know for fact that he did some strange sign in his logs at, what looks like random dates, som scientists believe this was when he jerked off. He wasn't really able to love women in the sexual way and he turned some of his romantic affection towards men. Seemingly he never had sex - som believe he might have tried it once or twice. His logs state that he refused to have sex.

People mostly believe he was either very very very shy, or just plain gay. I bet he's ace. Maybe panromantic or heteroromantic or whatever, but i think he was ace.

Lots of fairy tales you've read or listened to as a child was prolly made by him. He also created "the little mermaid" character, which is also the trademark of Copenhagen. He is world famous.

Any1 wanna contribute? Maybe you can tell me if you think im wrong or right? :rolleyes:

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The article says that he was shy, but it didn't say anything about his sex life though... Maybe he was just so shy that it was a real problem for him to get in contact with women that way. There's not a lot to go on from that article though, so it's hard to say.

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I love Hans Christian Andersen *_* Thanks for posting this! I would never have made that connection on my own.

I can definitely buy him as a biromantic ace, or just a shy guy who chose celibacy, either way. Falling for unattainable people and never seeking to act on it sexually rings pretty ace to me, but it's certainly not exclusively so. But there was definitely some element of romantic androphilia along with the romantic attraction to women.

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Well it is pretty hard to tell because there is not a lot of facts in this particular case.

But since i discovered asexuality and stuff, i've thought a LOT about Hans Christian Andersen being ace in some way. We hear a lot about H. C. A. in school here in Denmark (of course), but all i've heard about his sexuality is that he was either shy or gay. I think ace covers his habitat better than gay atleast. I also believe he was blocked mentally in other ways than just being shy, but i can only guess.

His love-trouble could be connected to his lack of sexual interest but romantic feelings alone. He prolly had a small amount of sex in his early life with the first woman he loved which returned some of his feelings - but since his touch with the female body it was all love-trouble.

Besides i find the noting his masturbation days, as a sign of wondering why he did this. I mean if you write it down like that, it might not be for joy, but for wondering why he would grap himself and just do it like that :lol:

Anyways the man was a genius so who is to tell what he was like and thought, he was clearly not your average joe.

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How do you know for sure that those dates was when he masturbated?

I don't, but HCA researchers believe it's plausible.

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How do you know for sure that those dates was when he masturbated?

I don't, but HCA researchers believe it's plausible.

Do you know why they think so? It just seems a bit weird if they saw a bunch of dates and assumed it was when he masturbated if there's no evidence for it...

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Just to make the obvious disclaimer, there's no way to know for sure, and labeling someone else is inherently problematic... but in my imaginary head world, yes, he was completely asexual. I've admittedly only read one 40-page biography in the front of a collection of his fairy tales, but the stuff they mentioned in there makes me inclined to believe he could very possibly have been asexual. They also mentioned the masturbation entries, but we at AVEN know that having a libido or performing certain sexual acts does not necessarily make one sexual, so...

But, then again, that's also wishful thinking because I'm silly and like the idea of people whose work I admire having similarities with me. I can see how he could also be sexual and just kind of an awkward person, for lack of a better phrase.

For those curious, this is what my books says about his sexuality and related journal entries (apologies for typos--my keyboard doesn't always register keystrokes when I type quickly):

[Andersen] had crushes but never married. He was unnerved by anything having to do with sex and flustered by the sexuality of women. On January 6, 1834, when he was in Rome, he wrote in his diary of visiting the studio of the painter Albert Kuechler: "And while I sat, a young model of about sixteen arrived with her mother. Kuechler said that he wanted to see her breasts. The girl was a little embarrassed at my being there, but her mother said, 'Tsk, Tsk!' and unbottoned he dress, pulled it all the way down to her waist, and there she stood,half-naked, quite dark skinned, her ams a little too thin but with beautiful, round breats... I felt my whole body tremble."

His journals are surprisingly frank on the subject of his own body. "Penis sore" or similar notes are often accompanied by a arkresembling a cross to indicate that he had masturbated. During a trip to Italy when he was in his late twenties, he wrote in his diary, on February 28, 1834: "My blood is hot. Headache; the blood rose into my eyes, and a passion I've never known drove me outside--I didn't know myself where I went, but I... sat on a rock by the sea where the water rose up. The red fire streamed down Vesuvius, and the air didn't cool me--I burned. Whe I headed back, two men came along and suggested women. No, no! I ried, and went home, where I soaked my head."

When Andersen was sixty-one and in Paris, he visited a brothel for the first time--something, he confessed in his diary on August 30, 1866, that he had always been eager to do. "Four girls came up to me; the youngest was no more than eighteen. I asked her to stay--she wore a simple dress. I felt very sorry for her." He paid the madame five francs "but didn't do anything; just looked at the poor child, who was totally ashamed, and was surprised tat I only looked at her."

So... make of that what you will, I guess.

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