Biedermeierkulturens beskidte bagside

Pløre, dynd og snavs hos H.C. Andersen

Resumé

This article explores the themes of mud, marsh, and dirt in three fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen: ”Clumsy-Hans,” ”The Swineherd,” and ”The Marsh King’s Daughter” from the perspective of queer theory. Following Michel Foucault’s reinterpretation of the Victorian Age as one characterized not mainly by repression but rather by production, proliferation, and multiplication of sexuality, I view Andersen’s texts as complex and ambivalent negotiations of desire and sexuality, purity and danger. The idyllic and harmonious surfaces reveal complex fantasies of both a sexual and scatological nature if, as a reader, one is willing to get one’s hands and mind dirty. The famous tale of ”Clumsy Hans” is seen as a celebration of a noble Son of Nature who literally knows his shit and is willing and able to manipulate it to his advantage. ”The Swineherd” is a misogynous story about a ”dirty” princess and about a prince who realizes that he is above both the dirt and the woman. The complex tale of ”The Marsh King’s Daughter” is an exploration of both incestuous and reproductive sexualities (both associated with marsh and mud) suggesting a higher, celestial escape from both forms. In a Foucauldian reading, Andersen’s texts can be seen as typically Victorian, in so far that the significance of sexuality is highlighted, but, except for ”Clumsy Hans”, they are also endeavors to imagine different ways to transcend the materiality – and the implied dangers and ”impurity” – of sex.