Inner freedom, responsibility, devotion to the family and love Tove Jansson

The publishing house "AST" has released an illustrated biography of Tove Jansson.

Tove Jansson knew the recipe for happiness. Live for pleasure, listen to the sound of rain on the roof, look at the water, lying on the bridge. Feel the pleasure of what you do and love whoever you want. And do not waste valuable time and do not linger in an unpleasant place for yourself. Loyalty to the family, responsibility and love of freedom became the beacon that made it possible to choose an unmistakable course among life’s reefs. One of them was a school with its rigid framework, a breezy and devoid of warmth atmosphere. Jansson family members are used to supporting each other in all endeavors. The ridicule of classmates and the severity of the teachers against this background seemed especially unbearable. “To shape the big dream, you need space and silence.” Tove did not allow Broberg School to destroy her inner world and without regret left her at age 15.

She chose to improve her natural talents at Konstfack Stockholm College, the graphic department of the Finnish Academy of Arts Kuvataideakatemia, and art schools in France. For the daughter of the artist and sculptor, engaged in painting from an early age, it was a natural choice. Literary creativity and painting gave her the opportunity to express herself. “I own everything that I see, what I’m thinking about.”

Internal freedom allowed her to protect her privacy from the interference of strangers. The relationship with Tuulikki Pietilä, which lasted almost half a century, gave her a sense of the fullness of life and happiness that everyone needs. The incredible popularity of her books, the enormous dividends they brought, did not change her habits or her attitude to people. The main thing for her was finding a house in which love lives. And the rocky island of Klovaharun (Klovaharun), where they came from Tuulikki every summer for thirty-odd years, became a kind of fortress that protected them from evil eyes. She presented the readers a fairy-tale world in which you can hide from sad thoughts and gloomy news. Tove endowed the inhabitants of Mumi Dol with the features of people close to her, kind, sympathetic, touching and funny.

The writer, historian Tuula Karjalainen, has been working on Tuva Jansson’s book “Work and Love” (Tee työtä ja rakasta) for three years. In Finnish, she was released in 2013. Now a richly illustrated edition is also available in Russian.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru