Tove Marika Jansson was a Swedish-speaking
FinnishFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
novelist,
painterPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting. Paintings may have for their support such surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, clay or concrete...
, honorary
ProfessorThe meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual...
of Philosophy,
illustratorAn illustrator is a graphic artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
, and
comic stripA comic strip is a sequence of cartoons that tells a story, often humorous, though adventures and soap opera-like dramas are also prevalent. They are written and drawn by a comics artist or cartoonist, and many are published on a recurring basis in newspapers and on the Internet.In the UK and the...
author. She was the author of, among other works, the
MoominThe Moomins are the central characters in a series of books and a comic strip by Finnish illustrator and writer Tove Jansson, originally published in Swedish by Schildts in Finland. They are a family of trolls who are white and roundish, with large snouts that make them resemble hippopotamuses...
books.
Biography
Tove Jansson was born in
HelsinkiHelsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it the most populous municipality in Finland by a wide margin...
,
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
, which was then a part of the
Grand Duchy of FinlandThe Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland that existed in its territory 1809–1917 as part of the Russian Empire.- History :...
. Her family, part of the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland, was an artistic one: her father
Viktor JanssonViktor Bernhard "Faffan" Jansson was a Finnish sculptor belonging to the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland...
was a sculptor, and her mother
Signe Hammarsten-JanssonSigne "Ham" Hammarsten-Jansson was a Swedish graphic artist who designed, among other things, around 220 Finnish postage stamps during the course of three decades...
was a
graphic designerA graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...
and illustrator. Tove's siblings also became artists:
Per Olov JanssonPer Olov Jansson is a Finnish photographer. He is the son of artists Viktor Jansson and Signe Hammarsten-Jansson, and the brother of writer Tove Jansson and cartoonist Lars Jansson. His photography has appeared in a book by Tove Jansson: Skurken i muminhuset...
became a photographer, and Lars Jansson an author and cartoonist.
She studied at University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in
Stockholm' is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the Riksdag , and the official residence of the Swedish Monarch as well as the prime minister. The Monarch resides at Drottningholm Palace outside of Stockholm since 1980 and uses the Royal Palace of...
in 1930–33, the Graphic School of the
Finnish Academy of Fine ArtsThe Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki, Finland provides the highest university-level theoretical and practical training in the country in fine arts. The Academy was founded in 1848 by a private foundation called The Art Society of Finland . Back then the academy was called a drawing school...
in 1933–1937, and finally, at L'École d'Adrien Holy and L'
École des Beaux-ArtsÉcole des Beaux-Arts ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement...
in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1938. She displayed a number of artworks in exhibitions during the 30s and early 40s, and her first solo exhibition was held in 1943.
Tove Jansson wrote and illustrated her first Moomin book,
The Moomins and the Great FloodThe Moomins and the Great Flood is a book written by Finnish author Tove Jansson in 1945...
, in 1945, during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She said later that the war had depressed her, and she had wanted to write something naïve and innocent. This first book was hardly noticed, but the next Moomin books,
Comet in MoominlandComet In Moominland is the second in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomin books, published in 1946....
(1946) and
Finn Family MoomintrollFinn Family Moomintroll is the third in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomins books, published in 1948...
(1948), made her famous. She went on to write six more Moomin books, a number of picture books and comic strips. Her fame spread quickly and she became Finland's most widely read author abroad. In 1966 she was awarded the
Hans Christian Andersen AwardThe Hans Christian Andersen Award, sometimes known as the "Little Nobel Prize", is an international award given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature"...
.
Jansson continued painting and writing for the rest of her life, although her contributions to the Moomin series became rare after 1970. Her first foray outside children's literature was
Bildhuggarens dotter (
Sculptor's Daughter), a semi-autobiographical book written in 1968. Since then, she authored five more novels and five collections of short stories. Although she had a studio in
HelsinkiHelsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it the most populous municipality in Finland by a wide margin...
, she lived much of her life on a small island called Klovharu, one of the Pellinki Islands near the town of
PorvooPorvoo is a city and a municipality situated on the southern coast of Finland approximately east of Helsinki. The town received its name from a Swedish earth fortress near the river Porvoonjoki which flows through the town . Porvoo is one of the six medieval towns in Finland, first mentioned as a...
. Tove Jansson lived with her partner, the graphic artist
Tuulikki PietiläTuulikki Pietilä was a Finnish graphic artist and professor. She was one of the most influential people in Finnish graphic arts whose work has been shown in numerous art exhibitions. She also worked as a teacher in the Finnish art academy school for many years. Later she trained graphic artists...
.
Author
Jansson is principally known as the author of the Moomin books – stories for children that involve Jansson's creations, the
MoominThe Moomins are the central characters in a series of books and a comic strip by Finnish illustrator and writer Tove Jansson, originally published in Swedish by Schildts in Finland. They are a family of trolls who are white and roundish, with large snouts that make them resemble hippopotamuses...
s. They are a family of
trollA troll is a member of a race of fearsome creatures from Norse mythology.Originally more or less the Nordic equivalents of giants, although often smaller in size, the different depictions have come to range from the fiendish giants – similar to the ogres of England – to a devious, more human-like...
s who are white, round and furry in appearance, with large snouts that make them resemble
hippopotamusThe hippopotamus or hippo is a large, mostly plant-eating mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae...
es.
The first Moomin book,
The Moomins and the Great FloodThe Moomins and the Great Flood is a book written by Finnish author Tove Jansson in 1945...
, was written in 1945. Although the primary characters are Moominmamma and Moomintroll, most of the principal characters of later stories were only introduced in the next book, so
The Moomins and the Great Flood is frequently considered a "prequel" to the main series. The book was not a success (and was the last Moomin book to be translated into English), but the next two installments in the Moomin series,
Comet in Moominland (1946) and
Finn Family MoomintrollFinn Family Moomintroll is the third in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomins books, published in 1948...
(1948; the original title translates to "The Magician's Hat"), brought Jansson fame.
The style of the Moomin books changed as time went by. The first books, up to
Moominland MidwinterMoominland Midwinter is the fifth in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomins books, published in 1957.This book sees Jansson adopt a darker, more introspective tone compared to the earlier books that is continued in the remainder of the series.Often in the book Moomintroll is either lonely,...
(1957), are adventure stories including floods, comets, and supernatural events.
The Moomins and the Great Flood deals with Moominmamma and Moomintroll's plight through a dark and scary forest, where they encounter various dangers. In
Comet in Moominland a comet nearly destroys the Moominvalley (some critics have considered this an allegory of nuclear weapons).
Finn Family Moomintroll deals with adventures brought on by the discovery of a magician's hat.
The Exploits of MoominpappaThe Exploits of Moominpappa, first published in 1950 and then considerably revised in 1968 under the title Moominpappa's Memoirs, is the fourth book in the Moomin series by Tove Jansson. The story found in this book is mentioned in the previous Moomin books, as Moominpappa writes his memoirs in...
(1950) tells the story of Moominpappa's adventurous youth and cheerfully parodies the
genreA genre is a loose set of criteria for a category of composition; the term is often used to categorize literature and speech, but is also used for any other form of art or utterance...
of
memoirAs a literary genre, a memoir , forms a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable in modern parlance. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir, as listed here...
s. Finally,
Moominsummer MadnessMoominsummer Madness is the fourth in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomins books, published in 1954.The novel forms the basis of episodes 28-30 in the 1990 TV series.-Plot summary:...
(1955) pokes fun at the world of the theatre: the Moomins explore an empty theatre and perform Moominpappa's pompous
hexametricHexameter is a literary and poetic form, a line consisting of six metrical feet, as in the Iliad. It was the standard epic metre in Greek and became standard for Latin too. It was also used in other types of composition -- in Horace's satires, for instance, and Ovid's Metamorphoses...
melodramaThe theatrical genre of melodrama uses theme-music to manipulate the spectator's emotional response and to denote character types. The term combines "melody" and "drama" . While the use of music is nearly ubiquitous in modern film, in most cases it is used within a fairly rigid structure...
.
Moominland MidwinterMoominland Midwinter is the fifth in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomins books, published in 1957.This book sees Jansson adopt a darker, more introspective tone compared to the earlier books that is continued in the remainder of the series.Often in the book Moomintroll is either lonely,...
marks a turning point in the series. The books take on more realistic settings ("realistic" in the context of the Moomin universe) and the characters start to acquire some psychological depth.
Moominland in Midwinter focuses on Moomintroll, who wakes up in the middle of the winter (Moomins sleep from November to April, as mentioned on the back of the book), and has to cope with the strange and unfriendly world he finds. The short story collection
Tales from MoominvalleyTales from Moominvalley is the sixth book in the Moomin series by Finnish author, Tove Jansson. Unlike all the other books, which were novels, it is a book of short stories, and is the longest book in the series...
(1962) and the novels
Moominpappa at SeaMoominpappa at Sea is the seventh book in the Moomin books by Finnish author Tove Jansson. It is based primarily around the character of Moominpappa...
(1965) and
Moominvalley in NovemberMoominvalley in November is the eighth and final book in the Moomin series by Finnish author Tove Jansson. It is the only novel where the Moomin family, the main characters in the series are absent...
(1970) are serious and psychologically searching books, far removed from the light-heartedness and cheerful humor of
Finn Family Moomintroll. After
Moominvalley in November Tove Jansson stopped writing about Moomins and started writing for adults.
Besides the Moomin novels and short stories, Tove Jansson also wrote and illustrated four original and highly popular picture books:
The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little MyThe Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My was the first Moomin picture book by Finnish author Tove Jansson. It was first published in 1952.-Plot:...
(1952),
Who will Comfort Toffle?Who Will Comfort Toffle? is the second picture book in the Moomin series by Tove Jansson. It was first published in 1960. It was first translated into English by Kingsley Hart....
(1960),
The Dangerous JourneyThe Dangerous Journey is a children's picture book in the Moomin series by Tove Jansson. It was published in 1977.-English Edition:...
(1977), and
An Unwanted GuestSkurken i muminhuset is a children's picture book in the Moomin series by Tove Jansson. It was published in 1980....
(1980). As the Moomins' fame grew, two of the original novels were revised by Jansson and republished:
Comet in Moominland and
The Exploits of Moominpappa.
Painter and illustrator
Although she became known first and foremost as an author, Tove Jansson considered her careers as author and painter to be of equal importance. She painted her whole life, changing style from the classical
impressionismImpressionism was a 19th-century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence in the 1870s and 1880s...
of her youth to the highly abstract modernist style of her later years. Jansson displayed a number of artworks in exhibitions during the 30s and early 40s, and her first solo exhibition was held in 1943. Despite generally positive reviews, criticism induced Jansson to refine her style such that in her 1955 solo exhibition her style had become less overloaded in terms of detail and content. Between 1960 and 1970 Jansson held five more solo-exhibitions.
Jansson also created a series of commissioned murals and public works throughout her career which may still be viewed in their original locations. Among others, Jansson created works for:
- The canteen at the Strömberg
Stromberg or Oy Strömberg Ab, was a company founded by Gottfrid Strömberg in 1889 in Helsinki, Finland, and manufactured electromechanical products such as: generators, electric motors and small power plants. The company was founded initially as Gottfrid Strömbergin sähköyhtiö in Finnish, Gottfrid...
factory at PitäjänmäkiPitäjänmäki is a major district on the west of Helsinki, Finland. It is located on the border of Espoo in western Helsinki. There is lot of IT and machine industry on the area, especially around the Valimo railway station...
, HelsinkiHelsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it the most populous municipality in Finland by a wide margin...
(1945)
- The Aurora Children's Hospital in Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it the most populous municipality in Finland by a wide margin...
- The Kaupunginkellari restaurant of Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it the most populous municipality in Finland by a wide margin...
Town Hall
- The Seurahuone hotel at Hamina
Hamina is a town and a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Kymenlaakso region. The town has a population of and covers an area of ofwhich is water. The population density is...
- The Wise and Foolish Virgins
The Parable of the Ten Virgins , or the Wise and Foolish Virgins, is a parable told by Jesus in the gospel of Matthew . In it, the five virgins who are prepared for the bridegroom's arrival are rewarded and the five who are not prepared are excluded...
altarpiece in TeuvaTeuva is a municipality of Finland.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southern Ostrobothnia region. The population of Teuva is and the municipality covers an area of of which is inland water...
Church (1954)
- A number of fairy-tale murals in schools and kindergartens including the kindergarten in Pori
Pori is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäenjoki river, which is the largest in Finland. Pori is part of the province of Western Finland and is the most important town in the Satakunta region.The...
(1984)
In addition to providing the illustrations for her own Moomin books, Jansson also illustrated Swedish translations of classics such as
J. R. R. TolkienJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford from...
's
The HobbitThe Hobbit, or There and Back Again is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in a time "Between the Dawn of Færie and the Dominion of Men", The Hobbit follows the quest of home-loving Bilbo Baggins to win a share of the treasure guarded by the dragon, Smaug...
and
Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer...
's
The Hunting of the Snark300px|thumb|rightThe Hunting of the Snark is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll in 1874, when he was 42 years old. It describes "with infinite humour the impossible voyage of an improbable crew to find an inconceivable creature"...
and
Alice's Adventures in WonderlandAlice's Adventures in Wonderland is a novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar and anthropomorphic creatures. The tale is filled with...
(some used later in Finnish translations as well). She also illustrated her late work,
The Summer BookThe Summer Book is a book written by Finnish author Tove Jansson in 1972.-Plot:An elderly artist and her six-year-old granddaughter Sophia spend a summer together on a tiny island in the gulf of Finland exploring, talking about life, nature, everything but their feelings about Sophia's mother's...
(1972).
Comic strip artist
Tove Jansson worked as illustrator and cartoonist for the Swedish-language satirical magazine
Garm from the 1930s to 1953. One of her political cartoons achieved a brief international fame: she drew
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party...
as a crying baby in diapers, surrounded by
Neville ChamberlainArthur Neville Chamberlain was a British Conservative politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940...
and other great
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an leaders, who tried to calm the baby down by giving it slices of cake –
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
,
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
,
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, etc. Jansson also produced illustrations during this period for the Christmas magazines
Julen and
Lucifer (just as her mother had earlier) as well as several smaller productions. Her earliest comic strips were produced for productions including
Lunkentus (
Prickinas och Fabians äventyr, 1929),
Vårbrodd (
Fotbollen som Flög till Himlen, 1930), and
Allas Krönika (
Palle och Göran gå till sjöss, 1933).
The figure of the Moomintroll appeared first in Jansson's political cartoons, where it was used as a signature character near the artist's name. This "
ProtoProto may refer to:* Proto, one of the Nereids in Greek mythology* Proto , fictional character in Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell anime and manga* Silvio Proto, Belgian goalkeeper...
-Moomin," then called Snork or Niisku, was thin and ugly, with a long, narrow nose and devilish tail. Jansson said that she had designed the Moomins in her youth: after she lost a philosophical quarrel about
Immanuel KantImmanuel Kant was an 18th-century German philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg...
with one of her brothers, she drew "the ugliest creature imaginable" on the wall of their WC and wrote under it "Kant". This Moomin later gained weight and a more pleasant appearance, but in the first Moomin book
The Moomins and the Great FloodThe Moomins and the Great Flood is a book written by Finnish author Tove Jansson in 1945...
(originally
Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen), the Immanuel-Kant-Moomin is still perceptible. The name "Moomin" comes from Tove Jansson's uncle, Einar Hammarsten: when she was studying in
Stockholm' is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the Riksdag , and the official residence of the Swedish Monarch as well as the prime minister. The Monarch resides at Drottningholm Palace outside of Stockholm since 1980 and uses the Royal Palace of...
and living with her Swedish relations, her uncle tried to stop her pilfering food by telling her that a "Moomintroll" lived in the kitchen closet and breathed cold air down people's necks.
In 1952, after
Comet in Moominland and
Finn Family Moomintroll had been translated into English, a British publisher asked if Tove Jansson would be interested in drawing comic strips about the Moomins. Jansson had already drawn a long Moomin comic adventure,
Mumintrollet och jordens undergång ("Moomintrolls and the End of the World"), based loosely on
Comet in Moominland, for the Swedish-language newspaper
Ny TidNy Tid is a Finland-Swedish weekly magazine, with a traditional left-leaning direction.-External links:* Official home page...
, and she accepted the offer. The comic strip
Moomintroll, started in 1954 in the
Evening NewsEvening News, formerly known as The Evening News, was an evening newspaper published in London from 1881 to 1980, reappearing briefly in 1987. It became highly popular under the control of the Harmsworth brothers. For a long time it maintained the largest daily sale of any evening newspaper in London...
, a newspaper for the
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
area and London commuters (no longer in business). Tove Jansson drew 21 long Moomin stories from 1954 to 1959, writing them at first by herself and then with her brother Lars Jansson. She eventually gave the strip up because the daily work of a comic artist did not leave her time to write books and paint, but Lars took over the strip and continued it until 1975.
The series was published in book form in Swedish, and books 1 through 4 have been published in English,
Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip.
Theater
Several stage productions have been made from Jansson's Moomin series including a number that Jansson herself was involved in.
The earliest production was a 1949 theatrical version of
Comet in Moominland performed at
Åbo Svenska TeaterÅbo Svenska Teater is a Finnish-Swedish theatre in the city of Turku in Finland and the oldest theatre in the country, founded in 1839. The building itself is also the oldest still functioning theatre house in Finland...
.
In the early 50s, Jansson collaborated on moomin-themed children's plays with Vivica Bandler, and in 1952 Jansson designed stage settings and dresses for
Pessi and Illusia, a ballet by Ahti Sonninen (
Radio tekee murronRadio tekee murron is a Finnish crime comedy directed by Matti Kassila and starring Hannes Häyrinen. The idea for the movie came from an actual radio program done by sensationalist reporter Usko Santavuori, in which he committed a fake burglary of which local police forces had not been made...
) which was performed at the
Finnish National OperaThe Finnish National Opera in Helsinki is the leading opera company in Finland. Its home base is the Opera House on Töölönlahti bay in Töölö which opened in 1993...
. By 1958, Jansson began to become directly involved in theater as Lilla Teater produced
Troll i kulisserna, a play with lyrics composed by Jansson and music composed by Erna Tauro. The production was a success and later performances were held in Sweden and Norway.
In 1974 the first Moomin opera was produced with music composed by
Ilkka KuusistoIlkka Taneli Kuusisto was a Finnish composer of popular opera and father of Jaakko Kuusisto....
.
Jansson's cultural heritage
In 1966 Tove Jansson won the
Hans Christian Andersen AwardThe Hans Christian Andersen Award, sometimes known as the "Little Nobel Prize", is an international award given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature"...
for her contributions to
children's literatureChildren's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve and is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes exclude young-adult fiction, comic books, or other genres. Books specifically for children existed by the 17th century...
.
Jansson's Moomin books, originally written in Swedish, have been translated into 33 languages. After the
KalevalaThe Kalevala is a book and epic poem which Elias Lönnrot compiled from Finnish and Karelian folklore in the nineteenth century. It is held to be the national epic of Finland and is traditionally thought of as one of the most significant works of Finnish literature. Karelian citizens and other...
and books by
Mika WaltariMika Toimi Waltari was a Finnish writer, best known for his magnum opus The Egyptian .- Early life :...
, they are the most widely translated works of
Finnish literatureFinnish literature refers to literature written in Finland. Earliest texts in Finland were written in Swedish or Latin during the Finnish Middle Age . Finnish-language literature was slowly developing from the 16th century onwards. First artistic heyday of the Finnish literature was the mid-19th...
.
The
Moomin MuseumMoomin Valley is situated in the city of Tampere, Finland. In the Moomin Valley Museum you can see original illustrations made by Tove Jansson , 40 miniatures, tableaux about Moomin events and a small Moomin House...
in
TampereTampere is a city in southern Finland located between two lakes, Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi. Since the two lakes differ in level by , the rapids linking them, Tammerkoski, have been an important power source throughout history, most recently for generating electricity...
displays much of Jansson's work around the Moomins. There is also a Moomin theme park named
Moomin WorldMoomin World is the Moomin Theme Park especially for children based on the Moomin books by Tove Jansson. Moomin World is on the island of Kailo beside the old town of Naantali, near the city of Turku in Western Finland....
in
NaantaliNaantali is a town in south-western Finland, known as one of the most important tourist centres of the country.The municipality has a population of , and is located in the region of Finland Proper, west of Turku....
.
Tove Jansson was selected as the main motif in a recent Finnish commemorative coin, the €10 Tove Jansson and Finish Children's Culture commemorative coin, minted in 2004. The obverse depicts a combination of Tove Jansson portrait with several objects: the skyline, an artist's palette, a crescent, and a sailboat. The reverse design features three Moomin characters.
Novels
- Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen (1945, The Moomins and the Great Flood
The Moomins and the Great Flood is a book written by Finnish author Tove Jansson in 1945...
)
- Kometjakten (1946, Comet in Moominland
Comet In Moominland is the second in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomin books, published in 1946....
) (translated into English)
- Trollkarlens hatt (1948, Finn Family Moomintroll
Finn Family Moomintroll is the third in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomins books, published in 1948...
; in some editions The Happy Moomins) (translated into English)
- Muminpappans bravader (1950, The Exploits of Moominpappa
The Exploits of Moominpappa, first published in 1950 and then considerably revised in 1968 under the title Moominpappa's Memoirs, is the fourth book in the Moomin series by Tove Jansson. The story found in this book is mentioned in the previous Moomin books, as Moominpappa writes his memoirs in...
) (translated into English)
- Farlig midsommar (1954, Moominsummer Madness
Moominsummer Madness is the fourth in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomins books, published in 1954.The novel forms the basis of episodes 28-30 in the 1990 TV series.-Plot summary:...
) (translated into English)
- Trollvinter (1957, Moominland in Midwinter
Moominland Midwinter is the fifth in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomins books, published in 1957.This book sees Jansson adopt a darker, more introspective tone compared to the earlier books that is continued in the remainder of the series.Often in the book Moomintroll is either lonely,...
) (translated into English)
- Pappan och havet (1965, Moominpappa at Sea
Moominpappa at Sea is the seventh book in the Moomin books by Finnish author Tove Jansson. It is based primarily around the character of Moominpappa...
) (translated into English)
- Muminpappans memoarer (1968, The Memoirs of Moominpappa; reworked edition of The Exploits of Moominpappa) (translated into English)
- Kometen kommer (1968; reworked edition of Comet in Moominland)
- Sent i November (1970, Moominvalley in November
Moominvalley in November is the eighth and final book in the Moomin series by Finnish author Tove Jansson. It is the only novel where the Moomin family, the main characters in the series are absent...
) (translated into English)
Short story collections
- Det osynliga barnet och andra berättelser (1962, Tales from Moominvalley
Tales from Moominvalley is the sixth book in the Moomin series by Finnish author, Tove Jansson. Unlike all the other books, which were novels, it is a book of short stories, and is the longest book in the series...
) (translated into English)
Picture books
- Hur gick det sen? (1952, The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My
The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My was the first Moomin picture book by Finnish author Tove Jansson. It was first published in 1952.-Plot:...
), (translated into English)
- Vem ska trösta Knyttet? (1960, Who Will Comfort Toffle?
Who Will Comfort Toffle? is the second picture book in the Moomin series by Tove Jansson. It was first published in 1960. It was first translated into English by Kingsley Hart....
) (translated into English)
- Den farliga resan (1977, The Dangerous Journey
The Dangerous Journey is a children's picture book in the Moomin series by Tove Jansson. It was published in 1977.-English Edition:...
) (translated into English)
- Skurken i Muminhuset (1980, An Unwanted Guest
Skurken i muminhuset is a children's picture book in the Moomin series by Tove Jansson. It was published in 1980....
)
- Visor från Mumindalen (1993, Songs From Moominvalley) (songbook. With Lars Jansson and Erna Tauro)
Comic strips
- Mumin, Books 1–7 (1977–1981, Moomin; Books 3–7 with Lars Jansson) (all seven released in Swedish, Books 1–4 released in English.
Novels
- Sommarboken (1972, The Summer Book
The Summer Book is a book written by Finnish author Tove Jansson in 1972.-Plot:An elderly artist and her six-year-old granddaughter Sophia spend a summer together on a tiny island in the gulf of Finland exploring, talking about life, nature, everything but their feelings about Sophia's mother's...
) (translated into English)
- Solstaden (1974, Sun City) (translated into English)
- Den ärliga bedragaren (1982, The Honest Swindler) (translated into English in 2009, under the title The True Deceiver)
- Stenåkern (1984, The Field of Stones)
- Anteckningar från en ö (1993, Notes from an Island) (autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
; illustrated by Tuulikki PietiläTuulikki Pietilä was a Finnish graphic artist and professor. She was one of the most influential people in Finnish graphic arts whose work has been shown in numerous art exhibitions. She also worked as a teacher in the Finnish art academy school for many years. Later she trained graphic artists...
)
Short story collections
- Bildhuggarens dotter (1968, Sculptor's Daughter) (semi-autobiographical, translated into English)
- Lyssnerskan (1971, The Listener)
- Dockskåpet och andra berättelser (1978, The Dollhouse and Other Stories)
- Resa med lätt bagage (1987, Traveling with Light Luggage)
- Rent spel (1989, Fair Play) (translated into English)
- Brev från Klara och andra berättelser (1991, Letters from Klara and Other Stories)
- Meddelande. Noveller i urval 1971–1997 (1998, A Winter Book
A Winter Book is a book written by Finnish author Tove Jansson in 1998. It features 13 stories from Tove Jansson’s first book for adults, The Sculptor’s Daughter plus seven of her most cherished later stories ....
) (compilation of earlier material. Translated into English)
Picture books
- Sara och Pelle och näckens bläckfiskar (under the pseudonym
A pseudonym is a fictitious name used by a person, or sometimes, a group.Pseudonyms are often used to hide an individual's real identity, as with writers' pen names, graffiti artists, resistance fighters' or terrorists' noms de guerre and computer hackers' handles. Actors, musicians, and other...
of Vera Haij) (1933, Sara and Pelle and the Octopuses of the Water Sprite)
Awards
- Hans Christian Andersen Award
The Hans Christian Andersen Award, sometimes known as the "Little Nobel Prize", is an international award given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature"...
(gold medal, 1966)
- Award for State Literature (1963, 1971 and 1982)
- Pro Finlandia Medal (1976)
- Swedish Culture Foundation Honorary Award (1983)
- The Finnish Cultural Award (1990)
- Selma Lagerlöf Prize
The Selma Lagerlöf Prize is a Swedish literary prize awarded to a swedish author writing in the spirit of Selma Lagerlöf annually since 1984. Recipients receive 100,000 Swedish kronor...
(1992)
- The Finland Art Prize (1993)
- Mercuri International pronssiomena (1994)
- The Swedish Academy
The Swedish Academy , founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Modelled after the Académie française, it has 18 members. The motto of the Academy is "Talent and Taste"...
Award (1994)
- The American-Scandinavian Foundation
The American-Scandinavian Foundation, is an American non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting international understanding through educational and cultural exchange between the United States and Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden...
Honorary Cultural Award (1996)
- WSOY
Sanoma Oyj is a leading media group in the Nordic countries with operations in 20 European countries, based in Helsinki...
's Kirjallisuussäätiön Award (1999)
- Le Prix de l'Office Chrétien du Livre
External links