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annatorv

from moominland tales: the life of tove jansson

aiiizawa

SING, MY ANGEL OF MUSIC

aiiizawa

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaAAAAA

nyctosaurid

my favorite era in history is the one where people discovered you could make cartoons out of typography and newspapers would run articles that were just like “today dennis the intern figured out how to draw a dog with the typewriter so here it is”

nyctosaurid

vintriloquine-deactivated202605

onewordshy

Argentina: *begins to cry*

Evita:

design-is-fine

Tove Jansson, drawing of a Moomins storyboard. © Moomin Characters™ Tampere Art Museum Moominvalley. Via fashionsnap

moomintrivia

The Groke

The Groke first appears in Finn Family Moomintroll, as the horrible creature who chases Thingumy and Bob. Her name is also something akin to a curse among all other characters, as they often use it to frighten small children or express how angry they are. At the same time, Moominmamma tells us how it’s not appropriate to talk about The Groke; not about her or to her. If you talk about her, she will get bigger and come after you. It’s best to talk around the subject and ignore her. In a manner The Groke is similiar to Hattifatteners; outsiders who are both strange and threathening. These creatures live in the margins of the proper life and just thinking about them can lead you down the wrong path. Characters like these must have been exciting for Tove to create; she loved all things scary and unknown ever since she was a little girl.

The Groke’s role adjusted as the stories and style changed in the books. First Moomin books are honest children’s stories. Text is more straightforward, action is clear and threaths come from outside. Everything ends happily. Starting from Moominland Midwinter the books take a turn towards more mature story telling and become more targeted towards older audiences (but still keep the child-friendly touch!). In the first books the Groke is one of these outside threaths that must be overcome. She is a monster that comes to the valley, demanding Thingumy and Bob to return her jewel. The Groke can also be seen to represent the law, as she is trying to take away the forbidden love (jewel) from Thingumy and Bob (Tove and Viveca). The Swedish name of The Groke (Mårran) was actually a word Tove and Viveca used to describe hatred towards homosexuality.

In ”Moominland Midwinter” and especially in ”Moominpappa at sea”, The Groke has evolved into a more complex character. She can be seen as the very symbol of loneliness. She is forever cold and always follows the light. The cruelty of her yearning is that whenever she approaches a lantern or a candle she just makes it go out. Moomin event hinks that entire winter must belong to the Groke! Like Moominmamma tells us, The Groke has not truly done anything mean. She is just so cold that it’s impossible to be with her. She also hints that maybe the reason The Groke is like that is because nobody has ever cared about her.

The Groke is a difficult character to determine and even Tove Jansson herself declined to explain her. Many people who have analyzed Moomin books have still been able to see a connection between The Groke and depression. Depression was a familiar guest in the Jansson family and Tove struggled with it her entire life. It’s a topic that is always hidden and much like The Groke, it freezes the warmth. This is most evident in ”Moominpappa and the sea”. Tove wrote the book after her father had passed away. The Groke follows the Moomin family and haunts Moomintroll through the whole book, where her role can be seen to represent the sadness and depression Tove experienced when she lost her father. In the end, the only way to cure The Groke of her coldness is to embrace her. Moomintroll comes to meet her at the beach; this act or caring makes The Groke dance and sing.

After The Groke leaves, Moomintroll touched the sand and realized it’s warm. Tove said that she ”warmed the Groke” in the book.

As a cute sidenote: many readers often wished that Tove would give The Groke a friend. Tove declined because a warm Groke served no literally purpose. But in an answer to one letter she did envision a family for the Groke. She told that there is a herr-mårra (Mr Groke) and when the two Grokes meet, they will become warm. Afterwards they have small groke-children, morits (moriter). These children are warm.

moomintrivia

Love

In the middle of 1950s Tove was very, very lonely. Her letters of that time are melancholy, as she desperately yearned for true love. By this time she was very interested in dating women (as to her, Atos Wirtanen was in a way the last man she wanted to love). But circles were small in a small town, where homosexual acts were both a disease and illegal.

It was 1955, when Tove met Tuulikki Pietilä. They knew each other vaguely by looks. They had attended Ateneum’s art school at the same time but Tuulikki was few years younger and usually students spent time with their own language group (Tove spoke Swedish, Tuulikki Finnish).

The love story which lasted until their deaths, almost half a century began at Pikkujoulu party (”Little Christmas” in Finnish, a party traditionally held in anticipation on Christmas, usually among coworkers or friends) arranged by Finnish art society. Tove asked Tuulikki to dance, but she declined - probably out of propriety. But later Tuulikki sent Tove a card picturing a striped cat and asked her to visit her atelier.

Next summer Tuulikki visited Tove at an island. Love was born. Tove wrote; “I have finally come home to that one person whom I want to be with”. The picture of a striped cat was always and still is on the wall of Tove’s atelier. The couple spent their summers together on an island and winters working in their ateliers, which were right next door from each other.

It can be said that Tuulikki saved Moominvalley. By the time they began their relationship, Tove was absolutely tired of Moomins. Tuulikki’s support restored Tove’s belief in Moomins and they became an important hobby to them both.

Moomin book Moominland Midwinter (1957) is a book about loving and falling in love with Tuulikki. And it really shows. In the book, Moomintroll (who is an avatar of Tove Jansson) wakes up in the middle of unfamiliar and eerie winter, facing loneliness and death for the first time. In the middle of all cold and silence Moomintroll finds Too-Ticky, who’s calmly watching a snow lantern. Too-Ticky is robust and strong with blonde hair and a knife at her hip; everything Tuulikki was.

Too-Ticky becomes Moomintroll’s calm and supportive mentor. She never gives ready answers and instead gently guides Moomintroll as he grows and learns. It is Too-Ticky who says the phrase which Tove repeated often in her interviews and which was seemingly one of her most important philophies: “Everything is insecure and that makes me calm”.

After Tuulikki’s first visit Tove wrote; “I love you both enchanted and very calm at the same time, and I don’t fear anything that might await us”. After finding Tuulikki, Tove described how much calmer and safer she felt. Whole living felt easier.