"The Little Troll and the Great Flood" came in the autumn of 1945 and is about Moominmamma and Moomintroll's journey through the great marsh in search of a home.
There are funny pictures when they run with their bundles, but think about Gaza, about people who have had to leave everything, says Sophia Jansson and notes that her aunt strived to create a happy ending.
And one must believe that there can be a better ending to what we see today as well. The reader finds a kind of comfort in her stories.
The creation of Moomin can be followed at the exhibition "From Moomin to Chop Chop" which has just opened at Waldemarsudde in Stockholm.
Here is a dark ancestor – a lean, red-eyed dark figure that Tove Jansson painted in an anxiety-filled watercolor in Germany in 1934. Eleven years later, Moomintroll made his literary debut in a story about vulnerability and searching for security.
Knots
Sophia Jansson herself sees something comforting in the character gallery, in hemulens, filifjonkor, and frightened knots – a permissive message that "you're okay as you are". This obvious message must unfortunately be repeated – all the time – she emphasizes.
It has just been proven that the democracy we thought was carved in stone can be shaken.
Moomin Characters, where Sophia Jansson is now the chairman of the board, today generates seven billion kronor – but the Moomin start was slow. The premiere story was published as a booklet that sold 219 copies in 1946.
Tove has herself said that she was a bit ashamed of it, she thought she had borrowed so much from others she had read.
Sophia Jansson is also the model for Sofia in Tove Jansson's novel "The Summer Book", about a girl and her grandmother who constantly challenge each other. The film adaptation with Glenn Close as the grandmother has just had its Swedish cinema premiere.
It's really good, but it's a bit difficult for me, I'm so close, says Sophia Jansson, who asked the director Charlie McDowell to focus on the atmosphere – the weather-beaten and simple life on the archipelago island.
Toning Down
The book is a tribute to Tove Jansson's mother, "Ham", emphasizes the niece. She recognizes the direct and straightforward dialogue but still tones down her own role.
I want to think that I was impossible as a child, a little anarchist and on some level I maybe was. I was a lonely child surrounded by adults, and imagined that I was entitled to be listened to just like them.
Waldemarsudde in Stockholm is showing the exhibition "From Moomin to Chop Chop" about children's book art from the 1940s to the present day. Until August 17.
HAM – Helsinki Art Museum – is showing the exhibition "Paradise" with Tove Jansson's public decorations and mural paintings. Until April 6.
”This is my painter's song. Tove Jansson and music”, a new book by Emma Klingenberg about Tove Jansson as a song lyricist.
Helsinki Design and Architecture Museum is showing an exhibition about Tove Jansson's different rooms. Opens on October 10.
