Tove Jansson, creator of the Moomins, has died in hospital in Helsinki. She was 86.
I love the Moomin stories and Ms Jansson’s own beautiful and odd illustrations. Would anyone like to join me in giving thanks for Ms Jansson’s work?
I’m sad to hear she’s passed away. Her stories were truly wonderful. My folks picked up one of her books at random in an english bookstore when we lived in the Netherlands back in '76. My dad read it to my sister and me, and we loved it. We quickly sought out all the other Moomin books we could find.
On my first date with my soon-to-be wife, she read me a Winne the Pooh story at bedtime. I dug out my old, tattered Moomin books and read her a story as well. We went through the whole series together. Mrs. Seng is still terrified of the Groke.
On our honeymoon, we toured various crocodile farms, and my wife turned to me and said “Did you remember to pack your woolly trousers?” Hee. That’s one of my favorite scenes from Comet in Moominland.
Oh, no—now I really am depressed. Though 86 is going some.
I loved those books—was raised on them, Milt Gross and Charles Addams (which explains a LOT). I always recommend Moomin Valley books to parents—they’re darker and less treacly than Winnie-the-Pooh. Gotta go back and reread some tonight . . .
It’s really sad. I must have come in contact with her works when I was around 5 and I have loved them ever since. But I must admit that I was really happy when I fell in with a girl called Tove, who was actually named after Jansson (and her grandfather’s brother appears in the books as a muskrat).
BTW I once had a beer with the managing direction of Tove Jansson’s Finnish publishing company and he told me about when they had had a signing session in a major Helsinki book store. Apperently the shop was full of children who wanted their books signed and at the head of the line sat Tove, chain smoking and with a glass of whisky (and she must have been around 80 at the time).
I’ll join in…I’m a big fan of Jansson’s writing, even though I came to it late. I bought a number of the Moominland books for my daughter about two years ago, on Eve’s recommendation.
I’m very sorry to see her go; from Floater’s anecdote it sounds like she was healthy and full of beans right up to the end.
Sengkelat - last winter I read Moominland Midwinter to my SO as a bedtime story. I’m glad other grown up people do the same.
Excerpts from her AP obit—
HELSINKI, Finland—Finnish writer and artist Tove Jansson, who created the Moomin family of trolls, died Wednesday. She was 86. The Moomin series, originally written for children, became popular with all ages and has been translated into 34 languages from the original Swedish, making Jansson the most translated author in Finland. Jansson died in a Helsinki hospital after a long illness, said Christer Timgren, whose company holds the copyright of the Moomin characters.
The daughter of sculptor Viktor Jansson and artist Signe Hammarsten-Jansson, Jansson spent her childhood in Helsinki, where the family had a studio-apartment near the harbor. For much of her later life, she lived in a small cottage on the rugged islands off the southern Finnish coast with her longtime friend, Tuulikki Pietila, who illustrated some of her works . . . Jansson began writing the first Moomin book during Finland’s bitter Winter War against the Soviet Union in 1939 and 1940. Jansson once said she wanted to write something that would begin with “once upon a time” but, during such a harsh time, felt that fairy tales were inappropriate. Instead, she replaced traditional princes and princesses with “an angry and ugly” troll, who later grew less grumpy and came to become the trolls as they are known today. Jansson received some 50 awards and nominations, including the Nils Holgersson prize in 1953, the Hans Christian Andersen medal in 1966, the Order of the Smile Polish children’s award in 1975 and the title of honorary professor conferred by Finland’s president in 1995. Jansson has no known survivors and funeral arrangements weren’t immediately known.
I just thought you’d like to read this. I have no idea who has translated it (the meter and the rhymes are gone, but the thoughts remain) (I must admit I did some work on it too):
Höstvisa
Vägen hem var mycket lång och ingen har jag mött,
nu blir kvällarna kyliga och sena.
Kom och trösta mig en smula, för nu är jag ganska trött
och med ens så förfärligt allena.
Jag märkte aldrig förut att mörkret är så stort,
går och tänker på allt man borde.
Det finns så mycket saker jag skulle sagt och gjort
och det är så väldigt lite jag gjorde.
Skynda dig älskade, skynda att älska,
dagarna mörknar minut för minut,
tänd våra ljus, det är nära till natten,
snart är den blommande sommaren slut.
Jag letar efter nånting som vi kanske glömde bort
och som du kunde hjälpa mig finna.
En sommar går förbi, den är alltid lika kort,
den är drömmen om det man kunnat vinna.
Du kommer kanske nån gång, förr’n skymningen blir blå,
innan ängarna är torra och tomma.
Kanske hittar vi varann, kanske kan vi hitta på
något sätt att få allting att blomma.
Nu blåser storm därute och stänger sommarens dörr,
det är för sent för att undra och leta.
Jag älskar kanske mindre, än vad jag gjorde förr
men mer än du nånsin får veta.
Nu ser vi alla fyrar kring höstens långa kust
och hör vågorna villsamma vandra.
En enda sak är viktig och det är hjärtans lust
och att få vara samman med varandra.
Skynda dig älskade, skynda att älska,
dagarna mörknar minut för minut,
tänd våra ljus, det är nära till natten,
snart är den blommande sommaren slut.
===
Autumn Song
The road home was very long, and no one have I met
now the evenings get chilly and late
Come and comfort me a little, for I am rather tired
and suddenly so terribly alone
I never noticed before that the darkness is so big
I walk around thinking of everything I ought to do
There are so many things I should have said and done
and there is so very little that I did
Hurry, please, dearest, hurry to love
the days get darker minute by minute
light our candles, it is close to the night
soon the blossoming summer is over
I’m searching for something that we may have forgotten
and that you could help me to find
A summer passes by, it is always so short
it’s the dream about what we could have gained
Perhaps you will come some time, before the dusk gets blue
before the meadows are dry and empty
Perhaps we’ll find each other, perhaps we can think of
some way to make everything blossom
A gale is blowing outside, and it closes the door of Summer
it’s too late to wonder and searc
Perhaps I love less now, than I did before
but more than you ever will know
Now all the lighthouses are lit along the long coast of autumn
listen to the waves softly passing by
Only one thing is important, and that’s the joy of the heart
and the gift of being together
Hurry, please, dearest, hurry to love
the days are getting darker minute by minute
light our candles, it is close to the night
soon the blossoming summer is over.
Text: Tove Jansson
Music: Erna Tauro