[xvedejas]

Your link doesn't seem to support what you're saying? It says that he wrote his letter about Riborg (a woman) and sent it to Christian (her brother) as a confessional. After Riborg's death, it was found she had kept Andersen's poems about her.

[goto11]

The link is a different story, but it is often assumed The Little Mermaid was inspired by Andersens affection for the male friend Edward Collin. He was not able to express his feelings, which inspired the mermaid literally losing her voice and (in the original story) having to witness her love marry someone else and not being able to do anything about it.

I don't know if this biographical reading is valid, but the interpretation predates the Disney version and have nothing to do with modern identity politics. If anything, the Disney version tones down this subtext.

[cbozeman]

> After Riborg's death, it was found she had kept Andersen's poems about her.

LOL, brutal.