NY Times obit

July 9, 2001

Tove Jansson, Who Created Universe of Trolls, Dies at 86

By ERIC PACE

ove Jansson, a Finnish author and artist whose tales for children about a family of trolls called the Moomins have been popular in many countries, died on June 27 in Helsinki. She was 86 and lived much of her later life on a rocky Finnish island.

As the German magazine Der Spiegel recalled: "When she was 15, an uncle threatened her with the Moomin troll, who he said lurked at night in the pantry. But the imaginative Finnish girl did not let herself be intimidated."

Ms. Jansson went on to invent her own Moomins, who dwell in the Moominvalley. They are cartoon characters: tubby, torpid, lazy and fond of sleep. They are also prepared for adventure, which they have lots of.

Her first Moomin book to be translated into English, under the title "Comet in Moominland," was published in Swedish in 1945. It is about the Moomins' efforts to protect themselves from a comet, and it was called "a gentle, offbeat fantasy" by The Horn Book, a Boston-based journal of reviews and essays about children's books.

The Moomin books have been translated into more than 30 languages, including Lithuanian, Persian, Welsh and Korean.

Ms. Jansson wrote eight novels and four picture books about the Moomins that came out between 1945 and 1970. The trolls' charm has proved durable and has also enthralled adults. Publishers Weekly said the book "Moominland Midwinter," about one Moomin's roving while others hibernate, would "hook readers of all ages." (It was first published in English in 1958.)

When Ms. Jansson's "Moominsummer Madness," in which the Moomins are threatened by floodwaters, came out in the United States in 1961, Pamela Marsh wrote in The New York Times Book Review that Ms. Jansson had created "an entirely new world full of cheery dauntless little creatures."

Farrar, Straus & Giroux began reissuing the Moomin books in 1989 and has seven Moomin novels, all with black-and-white illustrations by Ms. Jansson, in print.

In 1992 Alison Lurie said in The New York Review of Books that "Jansson's simple language, comic gift and down-to-earth relation of odd events" were reminiscent of writing by A. A. Milne, who wrote "Winnie- the-Pooh."

The Moomins became so popular that demand grew for spinoff products. Ms. Jansson recalled in 1963, "I made designs for wallpapers, paper dolls, ceramics, chocolates, candles, cloths, curtains, towels, pens, records, jewelry, postcards and I don't know what all."

The Moomins have also appeared in comic strips and on postage stamps. They have been seen on film, in an animated television series in Japan and in theater and opera. They have been heard on radio and have been made into dolls.

In her later years Ms. Jansson was active as an artist. Her work was seen in exhibitions and included paintings for a children's hospital in Helsinki and decorative commissions in other buildings, among them the town hall in Helsinki.

During that period she also wrote short stories and novels for adults as well as reminiscences.

Tove Marika Jansson was born in Helsinki to a Finnish family that spoke Swedish. Her father, Viktor, was a sculptor, and her mother, Signe Hammarsten-Jansson, was a versatile designer.

Tove Jansson spent her childhood in Helsinki and went on to study book design in Stockholm and painting in Helsinki, Paris and Florence.

The many honors she received include the Hans Christian Andersen Medal from the International Board on Books for Young People in 1966 for her contribution to children's literature.

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2001

Answers

This is sad, but at least she had a chance to write in her later years. I grew up with the Moomin series and loved those little creatures.

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2001