"The Shadow" () is a literary

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

by Danish poet and author

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

. The tale was first published in 1847. A man who brought the shadow. A learned man's shadow becomes self-aware and takes on a life of its own. The shadow gains insight into the dark side of human behaviour, then returns to the man and enslaves him. Fearful of being discovered, the shadow has the man killed.

Analysis

Jacqueline Banerjee suggested that Andersen wrote the story as a form of indirect revenge against Edvard Collin, the son of Anderson's

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

, who had rejected him. Literary critic

Jack Zipes Jack David Zipes (born June 7, 1937) is a literary scholar and author. He is a professor emeritus in the Department of German, Nordic, Slavic and Dutch at the University of Minnesota. Zipes is known for his work on fairy tales, folklore, crit ...

took the story to represent the Hegelian dynamic of master and slave.

Publication

"The Shadow" was first published 6 April 1847 as a part of ''New Fairy Tales. Second Volume. First Collection. 1847.'' (''Nye Eventyr. Andet Bind. Første Samling. 1847.''). The work was re-published December 1847 as a part of ''A Christmas Greeting to my English Friends'', again 18 December 1849 as a part of ''Fairy Tales. 1850.'' (''Eventyr. 1850.''), and 30 March 1863 as a part of ''Fairy Tales and Stories. Second Volume. 1863.'' (''Eventyr og Historier. Andet Bind. 1863.'').

Precedent

In 1814, three decades before the publication of "The Shadow",

Adelbert von Chamisso Adelbert von Chamisso (; 30 January 1781 – 21 August 1838) was a German poet, writer and botanist. He was commonly known in French as Adelbert de Chamisso (or Chamissot) de Boncourt, a name referring to the family estate at Boncourt. Life ...

had published " Peter Schlemihl's Miraculous Story", a story about a man who sells his shadow to the

devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conce ...

in exchange for a bottomless wallet. Andersen's story was prompted by Chamisso's, and he refers to it in "The Shadow":

He was very annoyed, not so much because the shadow had disappeared, but because he knew there was a story; well-known to everybody at home in the cold countries, about a man without a shadow; and if he went back now and told them his own story, they would be sure to say that he was just an imitator, and that was the last thing he wanted.

Andersen's story in turn appears to have influenced

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

's "

The Fisherman and His Soul ''A House of Pomegranates'' is a collection of fairy tales written by Oscar Wilde, published in 1891. It is Wilde's second fairy tale collection, following ''The Happy Prince and Other Tales'' (1888). He said of the book that it was "intended ...

Adaptations

"The Shadow" became the first text of some considerable length to be published in

Esperanto Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...

. It was contained in the 1888 ''

Dua Libro ''Dua Libro de l' Lingvo Internacia'' (), usually referred to simply as ''Dua Libro'', is an 1888 book by L. L. Zamenhof. It is the second book in which Zamenhof wrote about the constructed language Esperanto, following ''Unua Libro'' in 1887, a ...

'' (''Second Book'') by the creator of that language,

L. L. Zamenhof L. L. Zamenhof (15 December 185914 April 1917) was the creator of Esperanto, the most widely used constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Zamenhof published Esperanto in 1887, although his initial ideas date back as ...

(the first book had contained only single bible verses, short poems and the like).

Evgeny Shvarts Evgeny Lvovich Schwartz (, , Kazan, Russian Empire, January 15, 1958, Leningrad, Soviet Union) was a Soviet writer and playwright, whose works include twenty-five plays, and screenplays for three films (in collaboration with Nikolai Erdman). L ...

explicitly based his 1940 play ''Tyen'' (''The Shadow'') on Andersen's tale, introducing additional characters and plot lines and a different ending. This play was the subject of two film adaptations, in 1971 and in 1991. In 1945 the story was adapted as an episode of the syndicated radio program ''

The Weird Circle ''The Weird Circle'' was a syndicated radio drama series produced in New York and originally broadcast between 1943 and 1945. Production background The series was a Ziv Production, produced at RCA's New York studios and licensed by the Mutual ...

''. In 1994

Frederik Magle Frederik Reesen Magle (; born 17 April 1977) is a Danish composer, concert organist, and pianist. He writes contemporary classical music as well as fusion of classical music and other genres. His compositions include orchestral works, cantatas ...

Thomas Eje Thomas Eje (born March 15, 1957) is a Danish actor and entertainer. Considered one of the most popular entertainers in Denmark, he trained at the Odense Conservatory of Music and as an actor at the Aarhus Theatre, and has appeared in musicals and ...

Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (; 27 May 1946 – 19 April 2005), also known by his abbreviated nickname NHØP, was a Danish jazz double bassist. Biography Pedersen was born in Osted, near Roskilde, on the Danish island of Zealand, the son o ...

and others released the album ''The Song Is a Fairytale'' with songs based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales. "The Shadow" is one of the songs. ''Skuggaleikur'' (''Shadow Play'') is an opera by Icelandic composer Karólína Eiríksdóttir with libretto by

Sjón image:Sjon litteratureXchange-2019 DSC09264.jpg, 260px, Sjón at LiteratureXchange Festival ín Aarhus (Denmark 2019) Sigurjón Birgir Sigurðsson (born 27 August 1962), known as Sjón ( ; ; meaning "sight" and being an abbreviation of his firs ...

. Premiered in November 2006. In 2003, the

Carolina Ballet Carolina Ballet is one of America's arts organizations, programming traditional ballets and new works by contemporary choreographers. The Ballet was launched as a professional company in 1998 under the direction of Founding Artistic Director Rober ...

premiered a ballet version of "The Shadow" with choreography by artistic director Robert Weiss, set to the music of Khachaturian, Kabalevsky, Gyorgy Ligeti, Fauré and Rachmaninoff. The ballet features a sequence in which the poet contemplates his shadow in the mirror. The image, which at first copies his movements in complete synchrony, seamlessly emerges from the mirror frame (through changes in lighting) as another dancer in a gray full body stocking. In 2021, Danish director Mikael Fock and a team of engineers, designers, and generative artists produced ''Sh4dow'', the first theatrical production with AI as a full actor in the narrative. Using the Pepper's Ghost illusion, the AI actor appeared onstage alongside a single actress. In 2022, Big Finish Productions released an adaptation of "The Shadow", called "The Shadow Master" in the eighth release of their War Master

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

series, "The War Master: Escape from Reality", starring

Derek Jacobi Sir Derek George Jacobi (; born 22 October 1938) is an English actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen as well as for his work at the Royal National Theatre, he has received numerous accolades including a Tony Award, a BAFTA Award, two ...

References

External links