Letters from Tove

by Tove Jansson

  Affectionately yours, Tove.

  addr. Storpellinge

  Söderby

  the book: The short-story collection Lyssnerskan (The Listener) was published in the autumn of 1971.

  a paperback series: A set of paperback editions of the Moomin books.

  23.5.72 [Helsingfors]

  Dear Åke,

  Your letter was here to welcome me home, and I couldn’t have had a nicer bouquet!

  That idea of posting letters under a stone by the fence appeals to me enormously, especially after seeing what the standard postal service has amassed for me over seven months! But your missive was at the very top of the pile, what luck!

  I want to answer straight away, before all my various obligations crowd in. The reviews you sent are so overwhelming that I’ve only read snippets of them so far – imagine the book getting such a great reception! And selling well, despite being short stories.

  You’re quite right that it was a relief to be leaving on our trip just as it came out, and I was pretty apprehensive about disappointing all those readers who were expecting another Moomin valley. (And maybe they were, when they bought the book, ghastly thought!?) I know you were uneasy as well, and I’m enormously thankful that the faith Bonniers put in me was not misplaced. I do realise how much you’ve all been committed to the book and its promotion.

  It’s nice to be able to tell you that the next book is neither short stories nor a Moomin book for Gebers. It’s called Sommarboken [The Summer Book] and is about a very old woman and a very small girl on an island together. I wrote some sections of it while I was working on Lyssnerskan [The Listener], and I put them aside because they didn’t fit with the rest. I’ve gradually been writing more, some of it while we were away. I shall send it to you in due course for your verdict, but I want to go through the book again and try to improve it wherever I can.

  Of course it would be a real pleasure to “have a quick a cup of tea” with you, or better still a vodka, here or in Sweden. Among other things, I want to tell you something of the remarkable sights I experienced on my long trip without an address – at this juncture I’m not even sure whether it’s made the world bigger for me or just the opposite, much smaller than before. Or if I will ever be able to find expression in words or pictures for all the intense impressions that tumbled over me. But a lot of things must have changed now, of course, and perhaps I’ll find a form for it, out on the island.

  There’s one thing I am sure about after all these different springtimes at different latitudes, namely that the loveliest is in Scandinavia. And the beaches, and the forest.

  My very best wishes, Åke!

  Many, many glad greetings,

  Tove.

  The reviews you sent: Reviews of Lyssnerskan (The Listener). TJ and Tuulikki Pietilä returned from their round-the-world trip in May 1972.

  JUNE 73 [Klovharun]

  Dear Åke,

  Today, just as I finally finished a long, tricky job to produce a colouring book, along came a letter from you, full of warmth and good news! And some time back, your card from Peru, which I was so pleased to get. It’s really good that Svalan is taking The Summer Book! What a fabulously huge readership they must have!

  I recorded the whole book for Swedish Radio and they are broadcasting it as a summer programme. I also did their advent calendar this year, Moomin valley in snow with a whole host of little cutout figures, so there will be winter Moomins on TV all through December.

  The colouring book is part of this campaign, 64 full pages in black and white for children to fill in. Lasse did twelve of them. I took the job without relish but found myself increasingly interested as I discovered the possibilities of a new and bolder drawing style. One thing’s for sure – this has all taken a big chunk out of the book I was working on and I’ve got to try to find my way back into it now. It’s a novel – but it’s best not to talk about unfinished work – if all goes well I shall present it to Bonniers for their assessment this winter.

  The island is pretty wonderful, in spite of the wretched voles eating up everything I plant. They don’t like wild roses, thank goodness, so we think we’ll let those take over the island from now on. With the cat so old now, we’ve loads of birds that are quite tame. No invasions so far, we’ve been left to work in peace. We do just the amount of fishing we need to, sleep in our tent as usual, untroubled by flies, and enjoy the fact that we can lie there and listen to all the nighttime sounds and see the bird’s feet running across the canvas roof.

  I wish you and Ingrid a good summer, in Stockholm, in Skåne and in Dublin!

  Tooti sends many greetings. All the best,

  Tove.

  Svalan: A book club in Sweden.

  their advent calendar: Daily episodes of Moominvalley, sometimes called Christmas in Moominvalley, were shown on Swedish television in December 1973.

  the book I was working on: The novel Solstaden (Sun City) was published in 1974.

  FEB. 78 [Helsingfors]

  Dear Åke,

  Here’s the running order I’ve devised in an attempt to keep things varied, not putting novels with similar themes next to each other.

  I’m not letting The Flower Child and the White Ladies go hand in hand, for instance: all those tippling ladies!

  And then there are three stories dealing in their own ways with how people can be exploited: A Leading Role, The Parasite, Locomotive. Plus The Great Journey and The Doll’s House, which both signal a homophile relationship.

  And I’ve tried as far as possible to keep the first-person narratives separate from one another, and the same with two stories about very old people.

  And naturally I’ve tried very hard to put the best at the beginning and end.

  (I wonder if “the middle” is too weak now?)

  It’s an awful juggle and needless to say I’d be very grateful if you had any other suggestions.

  So I suppose we’re going to call the book Flower Child after all? Naturally with a cover picture that has nothing to do with the title.

  Now I absolutely don’t want you sit down and read the whole lot again! Just look at The Doll’s House and Art in Nature, which are new, and at the cuts I’ve made to The Cartoonist.

  I hope you’ll soon be rid of the influenza!

  My very best wishes –

  your friend Tove.

  And please set aside or discard all the earlier material I sent you!

  here’s the running order I’ve devised: TJ is referring to the short story collection Dockskåpet (later published in English as Art in Nature) which came out in the autumn of the same year. One of its working titles was “Blomsterbarnet” (Flower Child). The stories under discussion here were included in the published selection, “The Parasite”, under the title “A Leading Role”.

  17.8.78 [Klovharun]

  Dear Åke,

  Thank you for your kind letter – and for your congratulations! This Austrian State Prize is very nice – and quite a surprise: initially they didn’t actually want to publish “Vem ska trösta knyttet” (Who Will Comfort Toffle) because all their young-reader specialists wrote very negative reports claiming children don’t like verse. The publisher produced its own prose translation, which was dire, you know: full of platitudes and lectures.

  I thought it would still be better for the book to be translated into German in some form than for me to stubbornly insist on my verses, so last summer I tried to turn it into prose and they accepted. Aren’t they an odd bunch, of course children like verse!

  I thought your notion of the picture Tooti could do of my medal-adorned head was really hilarious. Everything would be fine and dandy if only I didn’t have to give a speech, my poor brain just goes blank.

  I’m very pleased about Bibliotekstjänst’s opinion of The Doll’s House! And I do hope some people will be shocked by my hard-boiled attitude. You know, I sometimes think the nursery chamber and the chamber of horrors are not as far apart as people might think.

  We sh
all carry on working into early September so we won’t see you at Manilla, but I hope later, perhaps! You’re right, we’ll just have to leave the weather to its own devices, it’s not so very bad. But it’s worse on the mainland than on an island in the sea, here we can see the weather coming and be overawed by its awfulness, which we can monitor from all angles.

  Tooti is in town for a week to supervise the making up of her book on graphic methods, the first proper one on the subject in Finnish. And to print some etchings she did while she was on the island. First-rate pieces of work.

  I’m restlessly waiting for this Storm of the Century that all the weather sibyls have promised for August, with all our boats drawn up and Tooti’s film camera ready for action. Wow, it could really be quite something!

  Other than that the island is fading, looking beautiful and melancholy. Give Ingrid a hug from me!

  My very best wishes,

  Tove

  State Prize: TJ was awarded the Österreichische Kinder- und Jugendbuchpreis for Wer soll den Lillan trösten? in 1978.

  Bibliotekstjänst: A book information and review service to Swedish libraries.

  Manilla: TJ is referring to the annual party held at Nedre Manilla, the Bonnier family’s grand villa in Stockholm.

  her book: Tuulikki Pietilä published Metalligrafiikka in 1978.

  20.9. –80 [Helsingfors]

  Dear Åke,

  Thanks for your letter!

  Our summer was good and quiet: hardly any guests, so we could work uninterrupted.

  Tooti has produced a lot of lovely stuff, and for the first time she was able to print on the island, with a miniature press we found at Beckers last time we were in Stockholm. And I’ve carried on with my book, rewriting it for the umpteenth time, but I expect it will come good in the end.

  There’s so much happening at the moment, too much, exhibitions and so on, we can talk about it when we meet.

  Anyway, in March–April Tooti and I plan to rent a remote cottage on an island with no channel through the sea ice, that is, somewhere we can work in peace – but ski over to the bus on the mainland if necessary. We shall make sure to have a phone line and electricity.

  I’m sending you “Konstberiderskan” (The Circus Rider) and am convinced Birgitta Ulfsson should be the one to sing it. It’s not a bad song – I’m really glad Myggan Ericson wants to take it up. The music is super. I tried (in vain) to ring Erna Tauro, she knows more about the whole thing. Can you tell Myggan that Erna Tauro, tel. 501012, lives at Igeldammsg. 2 A III Sthlm 11249?

  And we are fine.

  But rushed off our feet. This Moomintroll business has grown too big.

  Hugs

  to you and Ingrid

  a big

  Tove

  How very nice that you’ll both be coming to the Friends of the Nat. Mus., which I’m sure will be much more personal than the exhibition opening.

  “Konstberiderskan” (The Circus Rider): A poem commissioned by Vivica Bandler for the opening of the Nya Lilla Teatern theatre in Helsinki in 1962. It was set to music by Erna Tauro.

  Friends of the Nat. Mus.: The MOOMIN exhibition at the Nationalmuseum (national gallery) in Stockholm ran from 24.10.1980 until 6.1.1981.

  30.6. –85 [Klovharun]

  Dear Åke,

  you’ll both be in Skåne now, I’m sure – and if you’re enjoying the same sort of peaceful time as we are on the island, then all is as it should be.

  A whole load of “Summer Books” arrived and you know what, I’m so pleased to see this particular book out in paperback – and that light-coloured cover looks very nice. [ … ]

  Oh yes, I’ve certainly had a go at some short stories, but so far I’ve only had Tooti as a patient listener. I’m pleased that you want to read the things I’m working on, it would be very important to me.

  In the autumn we’re going to get ourselves a duplicator and then it will be easy for me to send you copies once I’ve tidied up the stories a bit.

  The longest story has a Spanish mountain village as its backdrop, the one where we stayed at Lasse’s casa, and its main character is Viktoria, a former university lecturer. I wrote another story there too, based on the ghastly experience of having my case taken, it’s only short. In Barcelona.

  One of the earlier stories, “The 85th Birthday”, is about dilettante artists, and includes among other things some dawn meditations on the quayside of Helsinki’s “cholera basin”, while in another I’ve tried to describe some very young people at the village party in June, and a girl who feels for the first time that she really cares, and isn’t just in love. Then there’s “A Foreign City”, an old man on a confused journey. I had melancholy Warchau in mind, but kept the location vague, a very short story.

  Here on the island I wrote “The Birds”, hommage à Hitchcock, a horrific story about how the gulls drive the newlyweds out of their minds, and then a story about the last solitary turtle on earth, told in a pub, and then The Wreck, told by a child.

  Tooti, among other things, has been very busy preparing for a big retrospective in Tammerfors next year, and has done an enchanting “Tableau” of The Fir Tree, based on my story in Det osynliga barnet (I was allowed to play with the Christmas decorations). Now Tooti’s making the balloon in “The Dangerous Journey”, suspended over choppy polystyrene seas, and it’s certainly going to be the most daring adventure ever, where tableaux are concerned. Wow!

  It’s been blessedly quiet and free of people here this summer. Except when Lasse and I had to go to Ähtäri zoo north of Seinäjoki to see some mechanical Moomintrolls à la Disneyland, which are going to appear in a 15-minute play I’ve written. It was + 35 degrees in the train, all day, and when we got there the whole thing turned out to be a misunderstanding, Bull’s fault, haha.

  At the end of July we’ll be at the children’s festival in the village as usual, where they have magicians and folk dancing and I tell some story or other at the open-air museum, this time it’s “The Fir Tree” with Tooti’s tableau, as long as the weather’s decent and we can arrange transport.

  And at the start of August we’re flying to the Faroes so we can see the Biggest Wave in the World at last – assuming it isn’t dead calm when we get there. [ … ]

  Oh, and they’re in the middle of filming “The True Deceiver”, I saw in the newspaper, but they didn’t want me on board, and I can understand that, even though I rewrote large chunks of their synopsis – assuming they took any notice, but I don’t know. – And they’re busy planning “The Doll’s House” for TV.

  Lasse’s Sophia, who’s been teaching English in Madrid for a year, is coming to the islands in July.

  There’s so much going on!

  A hug to Ingrid from me. We wish you a lovely summer.

  Tove.

  PS. Tooti says: How could you forget to tell him The Fir Tree is electric? One morning she got the Honda going and stormed in and when I woke up all its candles were alight!

  I must just tell you: we only have the one tree on the island, a rowan that we tend with great care. Last spring it seemed entirely dead – after that terrible cold winter. Now it’s putting out little shoots! Isn’t that great?!

  Oh yes, I’ve certainly had a go at some short stories: Some of the story titles TJ gives here are included in the collection Resa med lätt baggage (Travelling Light), published in 1987.

  the “cholera basin”: the long-established popular name for a section of the harbour in front of the Market Square in Helsinki.

  Det osynliga barnet: “The Invisible Child” – the opening story and Swedish title of the book Tales from Moomin Valley, published in 1962.

  10.4.87 [Helsingfors]

  Dear Åke –

  Glad I was able to talk to you on the phone – and that you liked my idea! Or rather the stirrings of an idea … I shall send you a summary of the letter, at any rate. So just conceivably another book – sometime – What happened was that I wrote an extra short story, “Video”, but I don’t think I s
hall include it in “Travelling Light”. The story features Jonna and Lena, the same characters as in the new version of “George” – the turtle – and it struck me that I could save “George” from travelling (and what’s more, it might do him good to be put aside for further reflection) and make him, along with the Video-mania story, into the basis for a book about Jonna and Lena’s friendship. Not short stories but a kind of novel in which each little episode is free-standing, much as in “The Summer Book”. I don’t quite know how it will turn out – but then I’d have something to aim for, if you know what I mean.

  So can you tell that my right hand is back to writing quite decently again now?!

  Hugs to you and Ingrid from

  Tooti and me!

  “the stirrings of an idea”: This was the book of Jonna and Mari stories, eventually published in 1989 as Rent spel (Fair Play), which TJ characterises in her next letter as a “happy and bright” book.

  my right hand is back to writing quite decently again: TJ broke her arm in February 1987.

  15.6.88 [Klovharun]

  Dear Åke,

  I’m delighted to be sending you and Ingrid the catalogue for Faffan’s commemorative exhibition, which is happening at last, thirty years almost to the day after his death.

  And the best thing of all: our father’s work is going to find a permanent home in Tammerfors Art Museum once they extend their domain in a few years’ time. The town is a real artistic centre.

  This has been a huge undertaking and there’s a great sense of relief now.

  The museum has also agreed to take charge of “Moomin Valley”, Reima and Raili’s assemblage, which is at the Main Library for now.

  It feels good when things fall into place. In Tammerfors Prolle, Lasse and I got on so easily and well together, all three of us – that was important too.