At Syddansk Universitet (SDU, University of South Denmark) in Odense I must thank Professor (now emeritus) Johan de Mylius, Andersen expert and critic, for the generous time he has spent talking to me in the most stimulating and informative way. He also invited me to give two lectures of my own choosing at the Hans Christian Andersen Centre there, one on The Improvisatore, the other on ‘The Ice Maiden’; these contributed substantially to the chapters in this book. Also in Odense I profited greatly from the knowledge and friendliness of the Director of the Hans Christian Andersen Museum, Ejnar Stig Askgaard. At SDU the Professor of American Literature, Jan Nordby Gretlund took a personal interest in my work, and kindly drove me to see places on Fyn and Langeland with Andersen connections; these enriched my appreciation immeasurably.
The Cultural Attaché at the Royal Danish Embassy in London, Lone Britt Christensen has been tirelessly helpful to me over the years, with introductions and practical suggestions. Through her I met Annette Bach of the Danish Arts Council who took an interest in my work, leading to handsome grants of inestimable help to me. I must also give heartfelt thanks to Dr Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen, Senior Lecturer in Scandinavian Literature at UCL School of European Language, Culture and Society for checking my Danish quotations and material.
At Yale University Press I must first thank its Managing Director, Robert Baldock, who commissioned this book, playing a most creative part in its whole evolution. To Managing Editor Candida Brazil, Assistant Editor Tami Halliday, both at Yale, and to my painstaking copy-editor and proofreader, Beth Humphreys and Loulou Brown I owe inexpressibly much. Also to Jane Horton whose index is a model of thoughtfulness and sensitivity to my text.
I also must include in my gratitude my friend and neighbour in Shropshire, Carol Wright, for unflagging assistance with the original typescript, especially over superscript numbering. And also of course my agent Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson who has always understood my hopes and intentions in addition to my actual published work.
In Hans Christian Andersen: European Witness I have made my own translations of all quotations from its subject's imaginative work. For his non-fiction I have relied on the best obtainable translations of others (impossible to find a satisfactory one in the case of A Poet's Bazaar). I therefore owe a particular debt to Eric Lane of Dedalus for making accessible to me, at some trouble to himself, the text of W. Glyn Jones's new revised translation of My Fairy-Tale Life.
I want also to acknowledge the help of the London Library and of the Royal Literary Fund; Eileen Gunn at the latter has been responsible for the easing of my working life. This last has benefited enormously too by my regular dealings with the Times Literary Supplement and the Independent, dealings which also assist a writer's sense of identity. In this context too I must mention Christopher MacLehose, great friend to European literature and a helpful mentor to myself.