Sen i jego funkcje w wybranych utworach Hansa Christiana Andersena

The article aims at analysing the motif of dream and its function in fairy tales and stories by Hans Christian Andersen. The Dannish author wrote during the Romantic era when the unconscious was of great interest to the creators of all kind. It was widely acknowledged then that dreams are a gateway to a hidden reality, and therefore, they constituted a great creative material. In Andersen’s work, the oneiric narrative abounds, for instance in Little Ida’s Flowers and The Little Match Girl, and dreams perform multitudinoulsy functions, from familiarizing children with death, to unveiling fears. The examples of dreams presented in the article indicate to the fact that Andersen’s oeuvre was addressed not only to children, but also adults.