Who Would Win in a Fight Between Tove Jansson and Astrid Lindgren?

[steepholm]

I'm very excited to have taken delivery of my copy of The Moomins and the Great Flood today, Tove Jansson's very first Moomin book, begun in 1939 and finished in 1945. The shadow of the War hangs over Moominland in these early days. The book opens with Moomintroll and Moominmamma wandering in Dantesque fashion through a dark wood. Moomintroll, frightened, asks his mother if there are any dangerous creatures around, to which she replies less-than-reassuringly:

"I shouldn't think so," she said, "though perhaps we'd better go a little faster anyway. But I hope we're so small that we won't be noticed if something dangerous should come along."

Their eventual discovery of Moominpappa towards the end of the book, perched in a tree above the Great Flood and the ruined land beneath it, recapitulates a scene that was being played out across Europe at that time:

"How are you? Have you caught cold? Was the house you built a very fine one? Did you think of us often?"
"It was a very fine house, alas," said Moominpappa. "My dear little boy, how you have grown!"

A biographical note at the end of the book asserts boldly that "Tove Jansson is Scandinavia's best-known and best-loved children's author." Is this true? I mean, she's the one I love best, but is she really better known than Astrid Lindgren? Then again, I think we can agree that both writers nudge Alf Prøysen into the shade, but what about Hans Andersen?

But comparisons are malodorous, and Jansson needs no hyperbole. (Why? Because she was a fucking genius.)

Comments

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Wandering in here via Twitter, I have to say that this Brit knew of and loved Jansson from an early age, but had never heard of Lindgren until bemusedly encountering Junibacken (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junibacken) when being taken round Stockholm.

(One of the nice things about having ended up in Tampere one time was visiting the Moomin museum.)

But this is one datum.

As for Hans Christian Andersen, that depends on your definition of Scandinavia, which while including Norway and Sweden, does seem ambiguous about both Denmark and Finland. Still, HCA himself identified as a Scandinavian, so I suppose he ought to be included.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Thanks for dropping by. (I'm not even on Twitter, so that's intriguing, by the way!) Interesting to hear your experience of these authors: perhaps we will get more data? I've long had an ambition to visit Tampere specifically to see that museum. One day, I hope.

I think of Denmark as definitely part of Scandinavia - indeed, I've never seen anyone express doubt about it before. Finland and Iceland are slightly more arguable, in my view - but since the quotation in my post implicitly includes Finland, I think I'm justified in assuming a generous definition of the term.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Someone (and now the link has scrolled past) linked to this post.

I think the "what is Scandinavia" thing is a bit like "what is East Anglia". In the latter case, the strict answer is Norfolk and Suffolk, but the general perception is that the whole bulge on the East Coast of England counts, bringing in Cambridgeshire and some of Essex. For the Danish exclusion, it's more that it's not on the Scandinavian Peninsula, whereas Finland is (at least partially ...).

So yes, multiple definitions, and I think I've encountered the "Denmark isn't" one, though historically it was part of the three kingdoms.

[sheenaghpugh]

Not sure Andersen would have self-identified as a children's author, or at least not just as that. Mind you, I don't consider Jansson purely one either, probably because I've read loads of her adult stuff but no Moomins (like several children, I was scared of them). Her adult short story "Taking Leave" is one of my all-time favourites.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I doubt Andersen would have identified as such either, but that's largely how he's read today, which I think is sufficient for this purpose.

I agree, Jansson's books for adults are excellent - but do try the Moomins again! There are few books about which I'm so inclined to be proselytic. They will also enhance your enjoyment of the adult books and vice versa, by adding new "notes". Her work is very much of a piece.

[photolallia2012.livejournal.com]

Children scared of Moomins? Interesting. I fell in love with Moomins when a child (okay, I was 11 or 12 at the time, but I loved and still love books of this kind). They are so cute and tenderhearted. Were you scared of the Moomin family or of some minor characrers?

[sheenaghpugh]

I don't know their characters, never read them. It was purely their appearance that spooked me (and does the same to my daughter). The creepy ghostly whiteness, the shapelessness, the feeling that they might be made of cheese...

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I didn't feel that about the Moomins, but I did have a suspicion that Barbapapa was made of Play-Do.

[photolallia2012.livejournal.com]

Hm... I guess I met them when I was already hardened by life. And I also first read the book and only then looked carefully at the pictures, and the book is very nice and there are no baddies in the whole cycle (some characters do bad things but there no is Evil Incarnate). So just get a book without pictures and read the text (some novels are more "feel-good-show", other are a bit darker and ambiguous). Anyway, Tove Yansson's book for adults are quite different (acute psychological observations, brutal honesty). But she is brilliant in every one of her books and stories (IMHO).
I must add I recently fell in love with Yansson again after reading several her novels that I hadn't read before. So I speak with a fan's fervour. ^)))

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

And, by coincidence I've just seen this video of her dancing with a cat...

[photolallia2012.livejournal.com]

Many thanks! It must be an excerpt from a documentary, I'd like to see it whole.

Jansson for me

[fjmd1.livejournal.com]

I've never read any Lindgren. Pippi Longstocking I think I'd heard of but possibly not until adulthood. I don't think Lindgren's penetration in the 1960's and 1970's in the UK was anything like as thorough as Jansson's.

Nothing is quite like the moomin stories. They are quite wonderful.

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

Lindgren was huge in the US when I was growing up -- absolutely everyone knew Pippi Longstocking. The Moomin books were around (I remember being terribly freaked out by the Hattifatteners) but you didn't hear as much about them.

[redfiona99.livejournal.com]

My experience was similar to yours but late 80s and Austria.

[photolallia2012.livejournal.com]

Tove Yansson lived in her native Finland but wrote in Swedish (her native language). The history of Finland is a bit convoluted. Anyway Finnish isn't a Scandinavian language, that's why there is some controversy about Finland being\not being part of Scandinavia.