Abstract: This paper focuses on scientific and technological elements in H. C. Andersen's works from 1840s and tries to identify the aesthetic turn of Andersen's authorship from romanticism. From mid-19th century Andersen turns to science and technology to find new sources of literary imagination and to facilitate formal experiment. This aesthetic turn to science signifies Andersen's divergence from Danish national romanticism. Facing national crisis, Anderson disapproves of the national romantic's strategy to reconstruct Danish cultural identity and cultural order through historical writing and hierarchical classification of literary forms. Instead, Anderson chooses science to push forward literary reformation, and fights against national romanticism by scientific imagination targeted at the future and formal experiment to break down the genre boundary. The ethical drive behind Andersen's choice of science is his pursuit of social reform and modern nation construction through the development of science and technology.

Key words: H. C. Andersen, National Romanticism, choice of science, ethics appeal