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BOOKS
The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen, edited by Maria Tatar and translated by Julie K. Allen. New York: W. W. Norton, 2007.
- Just published in November 2007. Twelve tales for children (including “The Little Mermaid”), twelve for adults (including “The Red Shoes”), with gratifying annotations, plus thoughtful essays about Andersen, his stories, and his illustrators. Same expert author as The Annotated Brothers Grimm.
New Worlds of Dvořák, by Michael Beckerman. New York: W. W. Norton, 2003.
- Not about Rusalka, but cultural and personal background based on Dvořák’s years in America.
ARTICLES
New York Times article (October 16, 1892) announcingDvořák’s arrival (“a tall man of compact build, with a prominent forehead, a pair of expressive and vivacious dark eyes, and a short beard”)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9A06E5D61238E233A25755C1A9669D94639ED7CF&oref=slogin
“Czech Composer, American Hero,” compelling and thorough New York Times article (February 10, 2002) by Joseph Horowitz, author of Dvořák in America for young readers.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A03E4DD1E3DF933A25751C0A9649C8B63
ABOUT THE CZECH LANGUAGE
Best free online Czech dictionary
http://www.wordbook.cz/index.php
- Why we say it’s best: you can make some choices. It shows you similar words, and root words with prefixes and suffixes. Or, you can turn off those options. And if you type in a two-word phrase, it translates both words and explains some context. Translate Czech words to and from English, German, French, and Spanish.
Simplest free online Czech dictionary
http://www.slovnik.cz/
- Type-and-click, and you can translate Czech words to and from German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and Latin.
CZACCENT: From the National Language Processing Laboratory at Masaryk University in Brno. If you need to type a Czech word with diacritical marks (accents)—and don’t we all?—type it in the text box on this page:
http://nlp.fi.muni.cz/cz_accent/index.php
- Click on the left button below the box. (“odeslat” = “send;” other button is “smazat” = “erase;” we learned that from the two dictionary sites above)It will give you the word with diacriticals, and then you just cut and paste. Now you can be a real návštěvník večírků!
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON AND THE LITTLE MERMAID
Excellent online publication of Anderson’s original:
The Annotated Little Mermaid:
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/littlemermaid/index.html
Other online publications of Anderson’s original:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Bluffs/8336/aesop/mermaid.html
More Andersen tales online:
Jean Hersholt: The Complete Andersen
http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/index_e.html
Good Anderson-Disney comparison:
http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/mermaids/
Annotated bibliography of modern works based on The Little Mermaid:
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/littlemermaid/themes.html
OTHER RUSALKA-RELATED LITERATURE
Undine, by Friedrich de la Motte-Fouqué, at Project Gutenberg:
www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext01/undin10.txt
Tales of Melusine
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/melusina.html
OTHER MERMAID LINKS
Poem: “The Mermaid Sets the Story Straight” by Boston poet Debra Cash:
http://www.endicott-studio.com/jMA03Summer/mermaid.html
Mermaid history:
http://members.cox.net/mermaid31/merhist.htm
Mermaids on the Web:
http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/mermaids/
“1,720 resources about mermaids”
Excellent mermaid history:
http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrMermaids.html
Rent your own mermaid or merman tail:
http://www.mermaidrentals.com/
ONLINE MEDIA
Andersen’s manuscript—analyze his handwriting, see where he made changes:
http://museum.odense.dk/andersen/manuskript/visning.asp?inventarnr=HCA/XVIII-58-A&sidetal=1&sprog=dansk
YouTube search for Rusalka:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rusalka&search_type=
Dvořák’s Humoresque (not in Rusalka, but a very famous tune):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScSCILXXLnM
Itzak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma, Seiji Ozawa conducting in Prague
Free piano sheet music for Dvořák’s Humoresque:
http://www.free-scores.com/download-sheet-music.php?pdf=5575
Undine
Librettist Jaroslav Kvapil credits several sources for his story of a mermaid who falls in love with a man, including the novella Undine by Friedrich de la Motte-Fouqué (1777-1843).
Here is an excerpt from Undine. See our “Mermaid Tales” (link to this page) article for more background on the plot.
…So the fisherman began as follows:
“It is now about fifteen years since I one day crossed the wild forest with fish for the city market. My wife had remained at home as she was wont to do; and at this time for a reason of more than common interest, for although we were beginning to feel the advances of age, God had bestowed upon us an infant of wonderful beauty. It was a little girl; and we already began to ask ourselves the question, whether we ought not, for the advantage of the new-comer, to quit our solitude, and, the better to bring up this precious gift of Heaven, to remove to some more inhabited place. Poor people, to be sure, cannot in these cases do all you may think they ought, sir knight; but we must all do what we can.
“Well, I went on my way, and this affair would keep running in my head. This slip of land was most dear to me, and I trembled when, amidst the bustle and broils of the city, I thought to myself, ‘In a scene of tumult like this, or at least in one not much more quiet, I must soon take up my abode.’ But I did not for this murmur against our good God; on the contrary, I praised Him in silence for the new-born babe. I should also speak an untruth, were I to say that anything befell me, either on my passage through the forest to the city, or on my returning homeward, that gave me more alarm than usual, as at that time I had never seen any appearance there which could terrify or annoy me. The Lord was ever with me in those awful shades.”
Thus speaking he took his cap reverently from his bald head, and continued to sit for a considerable time in devout thought. He then covered himself again, and went on with his relation.
“On this side the forest, alas! it was on this side, that woe burst upon me. My wife came wildly to meet me, clad in mourning apparel, and her eyes streaming with tears. ‘Gracious God!’ I cried, ‘where’s our child? Speak!’
“‘With Him on whom you have called, dear husband,’ she answered, and we now entered the cottage together, weeping in silence. I looked for the little corpse, almost fearing to find what I was seeking; and then it was I first learnt how all had happened.
“My wife had taken the little one in her arms, and walked out to the shore of the lake. She there sat down by its very brink; and while she was playing with the infant, as free from all fear as she was full of delight, it bent forward on a sudden, as if seeing something very beautiful in the water. My wife saw her laugh, the dear angel, and try to catch the image in her tiny hands; but in a moment--with a motion swifter than sight--she sprang from her mother’s arms, and sank in the lake, the watery glass into which she had been gazing. I searched for our lost darling again and again; but it was all in vain; I could nowhere find the least trace of her.
“The same evening we childless parents were sitting together by our cottage hearth. We had no desire to talk, even if our tears would have permitted us. As we thus sat in mournful stillness, gazing into the fire, all at once we heard something without,--a slight rustling at the door. The door flew open, and we saw a little girl, three or four years old, and more beautiful than I can say, standing on the threshold, richly dressed, and smiling upon us. We were struck dumb with astonishment, and I knew not for a time whether the tiny form were a real human being, or a mere mockery of enchantment. But I soon perceived water dripping from her golden hair and rich garments, and that the pretty child had been lying in the water, and stood in immediate need of our help.
“‘Wife,’ said I, ‘no one has been able to save our child for us; but let us do for others what would have made us so blessed could any one have done it for us.’”
To read the entire novella, see Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext01/undin10.txt
THE LITTLE MERMAID
Excerpt from Hans Christian Andersen’s short story, one of the sources for Rusalka
…At last she reached her fifteenth year. “Well, now, you are grown up,” said the old dowager, her grandmother; “so you must let me adorn you like your other sisters;” and she placed a wreath of white lilies in her hair, and every flower leaf was half a pearl. Then the old lady ordered eight great oysters to attach themselves to the tail of the princess to show her high rank.
“But they hurt me so,” said the little mermaid.
“Pride must suffer pain,” replied the old lady. Oh, how gladly she would have shaken off all this grandeur, and laid aside the heavy wreath! The red flowers in her own garden would have suited her much better, but she could not help herself: so she said, “Farewell,” and rose as lightly as a bubble to the surface of the water. The sun had just set as she raised her head above the waves; but the clouds were tinted with crimson and gold, and through the glimmering twilight beamed the evening star in all its beauty. The sea was calm, and the air mild and fresh. A large ship, with three masts, lay becalmed on the water, with only one sail set; for not a breeze stiffed, and the sailors sat idle on deck or amongst the rigging. There was music and song on board; and, as darkness came on, a hundred colored lanterns were lighted, as if the flags of all nations waved in the air. The little mermaid swam close to the cabin windows; and now and then, as the waves lifted her up, she could look in through clear glass window-panes, and see a number of well-dressed people within. Among them was a young prince, the most beautiful of all, with large black eyes; he was sixteen years of age, and his birthday was being kept with much rejoicing. The sailors were dancing on deck, but when the prince came out of the cabin, more than a hundred rockets rose in the air, making it as bright as day. The little mermaid was so startled that she dived under water; and when she again stretched out her head, it appeared as if all the stars of heaven were falling around her, she had never seen such fireworks before. Great suns spurted fire about, splendid fireflies flew into the blue air, and everything was reflected in the clear, calm sea beneath. The ship itself was so brightly illuminated that all the people, and even the smallest rope, could be distinctly and plainly seen. And how handsome the young prince looked, as he pressed the hands of all present and smiled at them, while the music resounded through the clear night air.
It was very late; yet the little mermaid could not take her eyes from the ship, or from the beautiful prince. The colored lanterns had been extinguished, no more rockets rose in the air, and the cannon had ceased firing; but the sea became restless, and a moaning, grumbling sound could be heard beneath the waves: still the little mermaid remained by the cabin window, rocking up and down on the water, which enabled her to look in. After a while, the sails were quickly unfurled, and the noble ship continued her passage; but soon the waves rose higher, heavy clouds darkened the sky, and lightning appeared in the distance. A dreadful storm was approaching; once more the sails were reefed, and the great ship pursued her flying course over the raging sea. The waves rose mountains high, as if they would have overtopped the mast; but the ship dived like a swan between them, and then rose again on their lofty, foaming crests. To the little mermaid this appeared pleasant sport; not so to the sailors. At length the ship groaned and creaked; the thick planks gave way under the lashing of the sea as it broke over the deck; the mainmast snapped asunder like a reed; the ship lay over on her side; and the water rushed in. The little mermaid now perceived that the crew were in danger; even she herself was obliged to be careful to avoid the beams and planks of the wreck which lay scattered on the water. At one moment it was so pitch dark that she could not see a single object, but a flash of lightning revealed the whole scene; she could see every one who had been on board excepting the prince; when the ship parted, she had seen him sink into the deep waves, and she was glad, for she thought he would now be with her; and then she remembered that human beings could not live in the water, so that when he got down to her father’s palace he would be quite dead. But he must not die. So she swam about among the beams and planks which strewed the surface of the sea, forgetting that they could crush her to pieces. Then she dived deeply under the dark waters, rising and falling with the waves, till at length she managed to reach the young prince, who was fast losing the power of swimming in that stormy sea. His limbs were failing him, his beautiful eyes were closed, and he would have died had not the little mermaid come to his assistance. She held his head above the water, and let the waves drift them where they would.
In the morning the storm had ceased; but of the ship not a single fragment could be seen. The sun rose up red and glowing from the water, and its beams brought back the hue of health to the prince’s cheeks; but his eyes remained closed. The mermaid kissed his high, smooth forehead, and stroked back his wet hair; he seemed to her like the marble statue in her little garden, and she kissed him again, and wished that he might live.
For the full text of “The Little Mermaid,” see:
http://www.aesopfables.com/cgi/aesop1.cgi?hca&a51
For an excellent annotated version, see:
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/littlemermaid/index.html
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