The wondrous journey to the Moomin Valley

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The wondrous journey to the Moomin Valley (original title: Den farliga resan ) is the third picture book by the Finnish-Swedish writer and painter Tove Jansson . Like all of her children's books, it is set in the world of the Moomin , but it is the only Moomin book to have a human main character. The book was published in 1977. It was first published in German in 1981 under the title The dangerous journey .

action

The protagonist Susanna is in a bad mood with her cat in a meadow. She takes off her glasses and wishes that her life was different and less boring. Your glasses are magically replaced by other glasses. When she puts her glasses back on, her cat turns into a vicious predator with sharp claws and runs away. Susanna runs after her and has to realize how the world has changed through her wish. So the green forest has been replaced by a black swamp, and birds fly on their backs. On her search, she meets several characters known from the Moomin books: a Hemul and his dog Knick, Tofsla and Vifsla and the Schnüferl. Among other things, they have to survive a volcanic eruption and a snow storm. Finally, they take a hot-air balloon to the Moomin Valley, where Susanna finds her beloved cat in front of the Moomins' house.

Subjects and characters

The Moomins, although Jansson's most famous creation, are marginal figures in this book. They only appear in one picture. Only Moominpapa and Moominmama are mentioned by name. Tooticki, a good friend of the Moomins who controls the hot air balloon, plays a bigger role. During the snowstorm, Susanna and her new friends meet Schnupferich and Wimsy. The Schnupferich is known from the Moomin novels as the best friend of the main character Moomin; the Schnüferl also appears in four Moomin novels. Susanna's friends, Hemul and the dog Knick, and Tofsla and Vifsla only appear in one of the Moomin novels. The penultimate picture, in which Susanna is greeted by the inhabitants of the Moomin Valley, shows Moomin, Klein-Mü, the Snorkfräulein, Ms. Filifjong and the maid Misa in addition to the Moomin-Papa and the Moomin-Mama.

Jansson gradually introduces the characters. She first describes them and gives children time to guess who is meant before their names appear on the next page. The book assumes a knowledge of the Moomin world. For example, Morra only appears as a terrifying shadow; to understand their role in the world of the Moomins, you have to know them from the novels.

An arduous journey and overcoming natural disasters are typical themes in the Moomin books. Similar adventures shape the plot of some Moomin novels, including a journey through the jungle in Moomin's long journey , a volcanic eruption and the hike through a dry sea in Comet in Moomin Valley and a storm with flooding in Storm in Moomin Valley . Storms are a recurring theme in Jansson's adult literature.

The wondrous journey to the Moomin Valley is the only Moomin book in which a person plays a role, and thus the only connection between the real world and the Moomin world, in which there are no other indications of the existence of people and real animals rarely appear . Therefore, on the basis of this book, the discussion arose as to whether the Moomin world can still be viewed as a closed world and whether the Moomin books can thus be assigned to high fantasy or low fantasy .

History and design

The book was published seven years after the last Moomin novel Herbst im Moumintal , with which Jansson ended the story of the Moomin, and is thus also Jansson's journey into a world she had previously abandoned. The illustration style differs from the ink drawings typical of Moomin books and has more in common with Tove Jansson's work as a painter. The plot shows parallels to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland , the Swedish edition of which Tove Jansson had illustrated in 1966: In both books, a girl, accompanied by a cat, travels to a wondrous land where its own laws apply. Other influences are the children's books by Elsa Beskow and the works of the painter and illustrator John Bauer . The book can be seen as part of a trend with which Swedish-language picture books, following the rest of Swedish-language children's literature, are increasingly taking up topics from fantasy literature.

Like Jansson's earlier picture books Moomin, what's next? and who comforts Toffel? is the Moomin The miraculous journey written in rhyme. In contrast to the other picture books, however, the text is not based on Jansson's handwriting and integrated into the pictures, but is in print outside the pictures.

Publication history

The Swedish-language original edition appeared in 1977 under the title Den farliga resan by the Finnish Schildt-Verlag ( ISBN 951-50-0141-2 ) and as the first of the Moomin books from the first edition by the Swedish Bonnier- Verlag ( ISBN 9-1004-2266- 5 ). With the title Vaarallinen matka , a translation into Finnish by Panu Pekkanen ( ISBN 951-0-08186-8 ) was published in the same year by Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö .

The first German translation by Elisabeth Frankenburg was published in 1981 by the St. Gabriel publishing house under the title The Dangerous Journey , which is a literal translation of the Swedish original ( ISBN 3-8526-4161-6 ). A new translation by Birgitta Kicherer was published by Arena Verlag in 2017 under the new title Die Wundersame Reise ins Mumintal ( ISBN 978-3-4017-1164-5 ).

Awards

Tove Jansson received the Topelius Prize in 1978 for Den farliga resan , which is awarded to young people's books published in Finland.

literature

  • Boel Westin: Tove Jansson. Life, Art, Words. The Authorized Biography. From the Swedish of Silvester Mazzarella. Sort Of, London 2014, ISBN 978-1-908745-45-3 , pp. 462-466.
  • Lena Kåreland, Barbro works master: Livsvandring i tre akter. In analyzes of Tove Jansson's picture book Hur gick det sen ?, Vem ska trösta knyttet ?, Den farliga resan. Hjelm, Uppsala 1994, ISBN 978-9-1879-2253-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Carole Scott, Maria Nikolajeva: How Picturebooks Work. Garland, New York 2001, ISBN 978-0415979689 , pp. 89-99.
  2. ^ Maria Nikolajeva: Children's Literature Comes of Age. Toward a New Aesthetic. Garland Publishing, New York / London 1996, ISBN 978-1-1389-5313-0 , p. 138.
  3. ^ Mareike Jendis: Moomin's miraculous adventures in Germany. To the reception of Tove Janson's Moomin books. Institutions för moderna språk, Umeå Universitet, Umeå 2001, ISBN 91-7191-970-8 , p. 48. ( online ; dissertation)
  4. ^ Boel Westin: Tove Jansson. Life, Art, Words. The Authorized Biography. From the Swedish of Silvester Mazzarella. Sort Of, London 2014, ISBN 978-1-908745-45-3 , p. 465.
  5. ^ A b Boel Westin: Tove Jansson. Life, Art, Words. The Authorized Biography. From the Swedish of Silvester Mazzarella. Sort Of, London 2014, ISBN 978-1-908745-45-3 , p. 464.
  6. ↑ Riitta Oittinen: Translating for Children. Garland, New York et al. a. 2000, ISBN 0-8153-3335-8 , p. 113.
  7. ^ Maria Nikolajeva: Literature for Children and Young Pepole. In: Lars G. Warme (Ed.): A History of Swedish Literature. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln 1996, ISBN 978-0-8032-4750-5 , p. 510.
  8. ^ Topelius-palkinto. Suomen Nuorisokirjailijat, accessed May 1, 2018 (Finnish).