Mumintrollet på kometjakt
Tove Jansson
156 p.

Sörlins förlag, 1956.

Back cover blurb:

De stora äventyren började egentligen samma morgon, som Sniff hittade sin hemliga grotta. Mystiska och svårtydbara tecken började visa sig överallt. Tecken, som såg ut som en stjärna med svans efter sig. Varken Mumintrollet eller Sniff visste riktigt vad de skulle tro, men som vanligt hade Mumintrollet sina aningar. För säkerhets skull frågade han Bisamråttan, och han visste på råd; en ondskefull komet var på väg mot Mumintrollens fridfulla lilla dal.

För att få reda på mera begav sig Mumintrollet och Sniff på väg mot Observatoriet i Ensliga Bergen. Efter en tid slog de följe med Snusmumriken och de tre vännerna fick uppleva både hemska och roliga äventyr. Och under tiden var kometen på väg… allt närmare, och närmare kom den som ett ondskefullt öga.

På hemväg träffade de på Snorkfröken och hennes broder, som Mumintrollet med sin rådighet räddade från en hemsk köttätande Angostura. Så efter många äventyr kom de slutligen hem igen till det lilla blå Muminhuset i dalen, lagom för att rädda sig och Mumintrollets mamma och pappa från den stora kometen som kom svepande med sin långa glödheta svans…

This blurb tells about everything that happens in this book, but with fewer words. That is a little strange, I think, but I guess that might have been the way blurbs were written in the fifties. I was definitely not alive back then, so how could I know? (I assume I could do an investigation, but I am extremely lazy, and you can’t expect me to be bothered doing that!)

This novel is the first version, so to speak, of the story which later would be published under the name Kometen kommer. I think the latter title is a lot more dramatic, but as I haven’t read that book, I can’t really compare them, plotwise. (if I understood correctly from reading a bit about it on the internet, one of the major differences is that what is a monkey in this version, is a kitten in the other version.) The writing style is the happy and simple style Jansson uses and it makes me so happy.

And, um. It really really makes me happy. It is like Prozac. Or metaphorically so, because I’m not at all so into medicines. But you get the gist of it.

Trollkarlens hatt
Tove Jansson
164 p.

AWE Gebers, 1956.

Back cover blurb:

Den här berättelsen börjar med trolldom en tidig vårmorgon och slutar en varm augustinatt som aldrig kommer glömmas i mumindalen. Däremellan ligger mumintrollets långa sommar, full av solsken och åskväder. Den kunde ha varit som en vanlig sommar, med upptäckter av nya öar, med långrevsfiske i duggregn och lyckliga bad i bränningarna och hemlighetsfulla nattvandringar - men så hittade muminfamiljen trollkarlens hatt. Och efter det var ingenting som vanligt längre. Farlighet och spänning hade kommit in i dalen och tassade hotfullt kring deras hus, varje dag hände otroliga och upprörande saker. De hade med andra ord aldrig haft så roligt förr. Det här är historien om små och stora kryp och om glada händelser och hemska händelser som alltid måste vara hopblandade för att ens sommar ska bli riktig och underbar.

Looking through the first few pages of this book, I realised that this is from the second print run, which made me feel a little uncomfortable - maybe I shouldn’t have carried it around as I did! I carried this book around for a near week, which, for such a short volume, is maybe a bit ridiculous. However, it was interesting to see how people reacted to it. People often went “Moomin!” in an appreciating way, but others went “..Moomin!” which made me think that maybe they thought it was ridiculous. If they did, I don’t care. Moomin might be considered a childrens’ book, but it is so much greater than a childrens’ book. (Earlier today I actually went to see a couple of short Moomin films at a cinema. The ticket girl looked a little strangely at me when I said I wanted to buy a ticket.)

It’s such a wondrous story. This novel has a few things I missed from Farlig Midsommar, most notably Mårran (The Groke in English). I love the concept of Mårran - something that’s evil because she’s unloved, but you can’t love her, because then she only gets cross. It is fantastic, and I don’t think I’ve ever been  as scared of any character as I was Mårran. At one place Jansson writes: “I det frusna gräset satt Mårran och glodde på dem” (132, roughly translated to “In the frozen grass sat the Groke and stared at them”). The choice of words chills my blood. I never thought I’d be as scared of someone who “glor”. (I realise this sounds really strange, but nevermind!) She is a truly extraordinary character.

And all the other characters! Oh, how I love them! Had I the opportunity, I would definitely marry Snusmumriken (who I believe is called Snufkin in English). He wouldn’t be a very good husband, I believe, but no one is perfect. I mean, at least he wears a pretty hat!

All in all, it was a very good book. I don’t really think I’ve said much about the actual content of the book, but, well, it’s obvious that I’ll like it - it’s Moomin. Whoever doesn’t like Moomin is mentally unwell.

Nineteen Eighty-Four
George Orwell
326 p.

Penguin Classics, 2004.
(First published 1949 by Secker and Warburg.)

Back cover blurb:

Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against teh totalitarian world he lives in, which demands absolute obedience and conrols him through the all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big Brother, symbolic head of the Party. In his longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair wtih a fellow-worker, Julia, but soon discovers the true price of freedom is betrayal.

This is another one of those books I’ve been reading for school. I’ve read it before now, a couple of years ago or so. Strangely enough, I remembered barely anything. Most of the things came as surprises this time again, which shows what a truly dreadful reader I am. Seeing as I might be asked about this in my finals next year, I do hope I’ll remember more this time around!

Despite being more than fifty years old, it’s a very lively book. When Winston towards the end was tortured, I flinched because the description were so violent and I almost felt a little ashamed at how much these descriptions affected me. Though, I guess I should applaud Orwell for being such a talented writer. Not many writers make me react to books like that.

Apart from Winston Smith, the other protagonist - if we should call her that - is Julia. I hated Julia. I really, really hated her. She never ceased to annoy me, because her entire rebelling against the Party felt so pointless. She often just made me angry. Winston, however, was rather sweet. I quite liked him.

Though, in line with the attitude to language in the novel, all we need to say is: Nineteen Eighty-Four is doubleplusgood.

Farlig Midsommar
Tove Jansson
143 p.

Awe/Gebers 1987.
(first published 1954 by Nordstedts Förlag, AB.)

Back cover blurb:

Vattnet bara stiger och stiger och allting börjar flyta. Där kommer n teater på drift och med den driver Muminfamiljen in i en midsommarnatt som är full av trolldom och överraskningar, av nya vänner och fiender. Vet ni att hatifnattar kommer ur frö och att man måste så dem på midsommarnatten? Har ni nånsin borrat hål genom ert eget golv eller sett en självlysande parkvakt? Och är ni medvetna om hur hemskt farligt det är att vissla på teatern? Det här är berättelsen om vad som hände i den magiska månaden juni samma år som det eldsprutande berget rörde på sig och mumintrollets mamma gjorde sin vackraste barkbåt.

Tove Jansson is, together with Astrid Lindgren, the most well-respected Swedish authors for children. I really don’t like Astrid Lindgren all that much, but Tove Jansson? I completely adore her. Her novels are so completely surreal and beautiful, and simple brilliant. For some reason I’ve only read one of her novels by myself before, and that was a few years ago. Then I came to discuss Lord of the Rings together with a few people, and one of these people said that he thought that if you were supposed to read proper fantasy, you should read Tove Jansson. This was of course an over-simplified version of the conversation, but it made me think. Seeing as I was sadly unfamiliar with her world - what I know is from when I was very tiny - I decided to read a novel of hers, and make some sort of comparision. And if I decided that the comparision is too far off, I would still have read a good book.

What a good book this is. As a fantasy world it can’t really be justly compared with Lord of the Rings, but with The Hobbit it is clearly comparable. And, I must admit, Farlig Midsommar made me feel a lot more than The Hobbit did. Now, Tolkien’s novel is seventeen years older, and is most definitely inspirational for Jansson, who, after all, has illustrated The Hobbit. I don’t know if it’s my skewed sense of feeling, or if it is actually better, but I could feel more for the mystical creatures in Farlig midsommar than in The Hobbit. Moomin, Snufkin and all of those amazed me with their simple ingenuinity.

The fact that the characters weren’t one-dimensional, which often people in childrens’ novels are, felt very nice. There was a passage where Snufkin, together with twenty-four children he has happened to adopt, are going to the theatre. Here Snufkin thinks that he hoped that nobody would think that the children were his - that would be a bit embarrassing. At another place Moomin promises The Snork Maiden that he has kidnapped her, and that she screamed terribly. What kind of pure childrens’ book is this? This is amazing, that’s what it is.

I really hate the fact that I am more or less the busiest I’ve ever been this week, and that I will have no time to read another Moomin book quite yet. It breaks my heart. But on Friday, when everything’s calmed down a few degrees, I am going to an exhibition with original art from the Moomin novels. I am going to be over the moon.