Wednesday, September 21, 2011

More on Tove Jansson



I have written about this writer of the Moomin books before. The books are for children but adults get something from them, too. Try Tales from Moominvalley for wise stories. The Summer Book is absolutely wonderful, written for adults and not about Moomins but about humans.

But that's what the Moomin books also are about, ultimately. I re-read the short story "The Fillyjonk Who Believed in Disasters" (from Tales from Moominvalley), and wanted to give a gist of it here because it is a deeply feminist story even as it is also a story about many other questions: fears, traditions, loneliness, disasters and materialism.

But I cannot condense it. That may well be because it is such a good story.

Still, if you never met the Moomin books as a child you can make up for it now by reading either of the two books I mention here. Or all the rest of her books.