The fairy-tale form as confessional memory : Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling and the Hus–Luther metamorphosis

Blažič, Milena (author), Zollner, Hans (author)

This study argues that the reformational genealogy from Jan Hus to Martin Luther, carried by the goose–swan metaphor, is not merely preserved in narrative form but constituted by it, and that the same form carries a critique of the excluding community. Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling (1843) and the Hus–Luther tradition instantiate one six-phase sequence: iso-lation, trial, latent identity, revelation, recognition, retrospective legitimation. The reading rests on a complete inventory of the lexical markers of exclusion in Hersholt’s translation. The tale depicts violence, ridicule, and exclusion without sexual content; the epithet occurs in three registers, the protagonist’s last. The duck yard is absent from the resolution.

• Language: English
• Keywords: The Ugly Duckling, goose–swan metaphor, exclusion, institutional response, reformation memory
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: PEF - Faculty of Education; TEOF - Theological Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 85-113
• Numbering: Letn. 81, št. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-190012
• UDC: 81'373.612.2:274(091)
• ISSN on article: 2335-4127
• DOI: 10.34291/Edinost/81/01/Blazic
• COBISS.SI-ID: 293048323
• Publication date in RUL: 20.10.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Edinost in dialog : revija za ekumensko teologijo in medreligijski dialog
• Publisher: Inštitut za ekumensko teologijo in medreligijski dialog pri Teološki fakulteti Univerze v Ljubljani, Inštitut za ekumensko teologijo in medreligijski dialog pri Teološki fakulteti Univerze v Ljubljani, Inštitut Stanka Janežiča za dogmatično, osnovno in ekumensko teologijo ter religiologijo in dialog, Teološka fakulteta Univerze v Ljubljani, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2335-4127
• COBISS.SI-ID: 268194560

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Pravljična oblika kot konfesionalni spomin : Andersenov Grdi raček in preobrazba Hus–Luther

Abstract

Študija zagovarja tezo, da reformacijsko genealogijo od Jana Husa do Martina Lutra, ki jo nosi metafora gos–labod, pripovedna oblika ne le ohranja, temveč jo konstituira, in da ista oblika nosi kritiko izključujoče skupnosti. Andersenov Grdi raček (1843) in tradicija Hus–Luter uresničujeta isto šestfazno zaporedje: izolacija, preizkušnja, latentna identiteta, razodetje, priznanje, retrospektivna legitimacija. Branje temelji na popolnem popisu jezikovnih označevalcev izključitve v Hersholtovem prevodu. Pravljica prikazuje nasilje, posmeh in izključitev brez spolne sestavine; pridevek se pojavlja v treh registrih, protagonistov je zadnji. Dvorišče je v razpletu odsotno.

• Keywords: Grdi raček, metafora gos–labod, izključitev, institucionalni odziv, reformacijski spomin