The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen

What is it?

The Emperor’s New Clothes

Who wrote it?

Hans Christian Andersen

Where can it be found?

The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen

Edited by Maria Tatar

Adaptation?

Yes. I learned that it is an adaptation of a fourteenth-century cautionary tale by Infante Don Juan Manuel.

My thoughts in exactly 10 words:

Vanity’s a shortcoming that’ll end with your flaws on display.

Extended thoughts:

The thing that stuck out for me, as I read this well ingrained story, is that the fact that the material and clothes are repeatedly identified to the reader as being “not there at all”. This isn’t one of those stories that you need to wait for the clincher to realise the moral of the story. But the use of a child to undo all of the blind bowing and scraping is a nice tip of the hat to that lovely talent children have of stating the obvious… ‘mouths of babes’ and all that. Also, what occurred to me is that while the emperor’s vanity is the source of the trouble, there is also a fundamental fault in all of the other adults who do not speak the truth in fear of being labelled stupid.

Favourite Quote:

“Good Lord!” he thought. “Is it possible that I am an idiot? I never once suspected it, and I mustn’t let on that it is a possibility.”

Is it annotated?

Yes

Most interesting thing I learned from the annotations:

Other than the fact that this is an adaptation of a much older story (I wonder how many more of Andersen’s will be as I read more of this book), I found it interesting that a lot of critics think this story is Andersen having a go at the social classes that were above him that he never felt a part of, even once he was famous.

Moral of the story in my own words:

Don’t believe what people tell you about fashion; look in a mirror before you leave the house and, particularly if you’re in the nude, don’t walk out the door.

3.5 Silver Stars

Find it on Goodreads