Hans Christian Andersen's Fish Out of Water

Abstract

This essay explores literary meaning in Hans Christian Andersen's "Little Mermaid" in light of evolutionary psychology, folklore studies, cultural history, fairytale scholarship, and literary romanticism. The article asserts that meaning cannot be determined by evolutionary predispositions alone, but rather is constituted by this feature in combination with a complex of cultural factors. Unlike the femme fatale or siren of some mermaid stories, Andersen's mermaid is the prototypical lonely outsider common to literary romanticism.