h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Tove Jansson - Illustrator and Author - A50057228
Author: Opticalillusion- media mynx life would be boring without hiccups - U231227

In trying to find out Finland's obsession with the moomins (Postcrossing made me aware) I was compelled to write this.

She wrote her last book Moominvalley in November 1970
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She wrote her last book Moominvalley in November in 1970

Check your spelling of the author's name - you've mispelled it in a few places.

You should mention that the moomins, as well as looking like hippos, were only about a foot tall.

You don't mention the fact that although Jansson was Finnish, she was a Swedish-speaking Finn, part of the fairly sizable Swedish-speaking community there. Her books were all written in Swedish, making them hits in both Sweden and Finland.

From the offset --> From the outset

From there Moomins (otherwise known as Moomintroll) -- this isn't right. Only one of the Moomins was called Moomintroll. The Moomin family were Moominpappa, Moominmamma and Moomintroll.

The Moomin Mania section is not clear - you say the moomins came to life in the Tove Jansson's books, and then in the London Evening News. Are you talking about the moomin stories, or pictures of moomins or what? Thne you mention comic strips, which you have talked bout before. Can you be clearer, please? If it is the books you are talking about please say so. If it is something else, then explain that.

"A book released in 1957 exposed just a glimmer of this artists work leaving the rest to fade away in long forgotten and abandoned editions of this newspaper." -- I have no idea what that is supposed to mean. What book are you talking about? WHat newspaper?

...handing over the reigns to her younger brother ... what reins? Did he write other Moomin books?

one half of a same-sex couple -- this is an incredibly clumsy way of putting it.

This is going to take a lot of rewriting to make some sense. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

worked my

Gnomon

I love this article.

Please could you add a bit more info about the moomins? I am sure there are other nostalgia addicts out there who would love this as much as me? Perhaps a *selection* of the most well known books?

I didn't know about the cartoon strips, but I do know that there was a television series, and I think some spin off merchandise too.

Good luck with it!

Hi lanzababy

I'm pleased to hear that you this

The point you make is one that has crossed my mind, but as the entry is about the author is this the place to go into depth about the characters? If I did cover the moomins in more detail I ought to put further info into the other literature too for balance.

A good Entry this.
I know you allude to it, but maybe you could say that her very first published Moomin image was in a political cartoon lampooning Europe's appeasement of Hitler?
I learned this years ago, in a retort to my incautious suggestion to a comic book fan that his hobby was trivial. Through this example and growing personal interest in the medium since, I'm persuaded that I was very wrong.

(The Snork Maiden is a candidate for the ideal female physique too, but that's another story)

That's a lot better now, Opti, but the word partner is open to misinterpretation. It's no longer clear that this was a sexual partner. It could mean a work partner.

just noticed that the capitalisation of Moomins is not consistent,

>>a contract that would see her moomins being printed

>>He went on to draw the moomins in the international publications.


Also, >>>Stockholm and Sweden (last sentence Jansson's life) Stockholm, capital of Sweden?

L

Good work. Thanks.

A couple of nitpicks:

>>including The Moomins and the Great Flood, which has since been translated into English.<<
>>including The Moomins and the Great Flood, which have since been translated into English.<<

>>would see her moomins being printed<<
>>would see her Moomins being printed<<

>>Wingate in 1957 exposed just a glimmer of this artists work leaving the rest to fade away in long forgotten and abandoned editions<<
>>Wingate in 1957 exposed just a glimmer of this artist's work leaving the rest to fade away in long forgotten and abandoned editions<<

As Gnomon alluded earlier, the above implies that there was other artwork, apart from that of the Moomins, which has disappeared into obscurity. Would that be a correct interpretation? Either way, could it be made a little clearer?

>>She will always be remembered for her literary work particularly the Moomins who have gone on to be successful<<
>>She will always be remembered for her literary work, particularly the Moomins, who have gone on to be successful<<

I hope the tweaks are useful.

And I can't believe it is 8 years since she died!

MMF

<< She wrote her last book Moominvalley in November in 1970, before handing her job with the London Evening News over to her younger brother Lars.>>
Maybe I am not understanding it well but as far as I know her last comic strip was published in 1959. After that it was all only Lars.

addressed the points made by Pinniped, Gnomon, lanzababy and MMF

I'm still unclear as to what appeared in the London Evening News. You say "these satirical creatures", but was it stories about the moomins, cartoons of them or what?

'satirical cartoons'

Well done.

Just one last one:

>>leaving the cartoons that she created from 1957 to 1970 in the London Evening News newspaper were never published in a collective second book. She wrote her last book Moominvalley in November in 1970,<<

>>leaving the cartoons that she created, from 1957 to 1970, never getting published in a collective second book. They were, however, printed in the London Evening News newspaper. She wrote her last book Moominvalley in November in 1970,<<

Or something similar...

MMF

with a wave of the errors have been corrected

Thanks. Makes more sense now.



Hope it to the FP now!

MMF

I checked the sources - Tove Jansson concluded her career as a cartoonist in 1959.

This is still very unclear. It doesn't give an impression of what Tove Jansson did. As far as I can see, she started as a cartoonist and then changed to writing children's books. Can you confirm this?

I know from experience that she wrote:

The Moomins and the Great Flood (never published in English)
Comet in Moominland
Finn Family Moomintroll

and then, in what order I can't remember,

Moominland Midwinter
Moominsummer Madness
The Exploits of Moominpappa
(published in America as Moominpappa's Memoirs)
Moominpappa at Sea
Moominvalley in November
Tales from Moominvalley

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/

http://inter9.tampere.fi/muumilaakso/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25

There's a lot more but in Finnish, I assume you'd prefer English. Both the sources are reliable.