Andersen has, indeed, won a place in the literary world because he revitalized children's literature by creating a fairy-tale form and narrative style that was all his own.
Many forerunners to the fairy-tale side of his literary production existed; the long tradition of fairy tales includes A Thousand and One Nights (first mentioned in the ninth century), which stood on the bookshelf of his impoverished childhood home. Andersen also heard folktales recounted by the poor women of Odense, and he later renewed acquaintance with these stories by reading Kinder-und Hausmärchen (Child and Household Tales, 1812-1815) by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm as well as the Danish counterpart, Danske Folkeeventyr (Danish Folk Tales, 1822), collected by Mathias Winther. Andersen was also influenced by the German tales known as "Kunstmärchen," written by Ludwig Tieck, E. T. A. Hoffman, Adelbert von Chamisso, and Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué. In Denmark early fairy-tale writers included Adam Oehlenschläger and B. S. Ingemann.
Only 7 of the 156 fairy tales and stories that Andersen published in his lifetime are retellings, in his own style, of folktales. Some of the others, such as "Den lille Havfrue" (The Little Mermaid, 1837) and "Skyggen" (The Shadow, 1847), have literary origins, while a few of the tales are based on legends or historical material.
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