Books by Paul Binding

Rarely does an American or European child grow up without an introduction to Hans Christian Andersen’s "e;The Ugly Duckling,"e; "e;The Princess and the Pea,"e; or "e;Thumbelina."e; Andersen began publishing his fairy tales in 1835, and they brought him almost immediate acclaim among Danish and German readers, followed quickly by the French, Swedes, Swiss, Norwegians, British, and Americans. Ultimately he wrote more than 150 tales. And yet, Paul Binding contends in this incisive book, Andersen cannot be confined to the category of writings for children. His work stands at the very heart of mainstream European literature.   The author considers the entire scope of Andersen’s prose, from his juvenilia to his very last story. He shows that Andersen’s numerous novels, travelogues, autobiographies, and even his fairy tales (notably addressed not to children but to adults) earned a vast audience because they distilled the satisfactions, tensions, hopes, and fears of Europeans as their continent emerged from the Napoleonic Wars. The book sheds new light on Andersen as an intellectual, his rise to international stardom, and his connections with other eminent European writers. It also pays tribute to Andersen’s enlightened values—values that ensure the continuing appeal of his works.

There is, for instance, Bruno, as arrogant as he is handsome, his Aunt Eileen (addicted to The Parkers), his adoring cousin Ian, Verity Orchard (in one review likened to Virginia Woolf cross-pollinated with Elfine Starkadder from Cold Comfort Farm) and her sexually ambiguous husband Charles Compson.

Part autobiography, part meditation on the dilemmas of Europe, this title offers an exploration of the uncertainties that affected Europeans for nearly half a century.

First published in 1994, Paul Binding's portrait of Eudora Welty is being reissued to coincide with the 100th anniversary of her birth.

For just as Lorca cannot be understood in isolation from the cultural traditions of Spain and Andalusia, so it is also necessary to appreciate the poet's vantage point as a gay person, if his meaning is to be fully understood. The hinge of this stimulating and emphatic study is Lorca's visit to New York in 1929.