NONFICTION - April 10, 1994

THE AMAZING PAPER CUTTINGS OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN by Beth Wagner Brust. (Ticknor & Fields: $15.95; 80 pp.) As if he didn’t do enough for us, the Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), author of “Thumbelina,” “The Little Mermaid,” “The Ugly Duckling,” “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” “The Steadfast Tin Soldier” and more than 150 other stories, was also the creator of these graceful, childlike, willowy paper cuttings. They recall Amish folk art, Alexander Calder and the wild uncle at family gatherings who made fabulous creations out of household debris. Best of all, writes Brust, Andersen usually made his delicate paper cuttings while telling fairy tales out loud, and always with an enormous pair of scissors. “What nonsense is this,” said one of Andersen’s characters in “Little Ida’s Flowers” (his first published fairy tale), “to put into a child’s head! All stuff and nonsense.” Nonsense indeed, wonderful nonsense.