 First edition | |
| Author | Tove Jansson |
|---|---|
| Country | Finland |
| Language | Swedish |
| Genre | Autobiography |
| Publisher | Schildts & Söderströms |
Publication date | 1968 |
Published in English | 1969 |
| Pages | 167 |
| ISBN | 9789120015569 |
The Sculptor's Daughter (Swedish: Bildhuggarens dotter) is a memoir by Tove Jansson, known for her Moomintroll books, published in Swedish in 1968. It was her first book for adults.
The Sculptor's Daughter gives an insight into Tove Jansson's own childhood world. It describes, in novel-like chapters, the artists' home at Skatudden in Helsinki and summer life in the archipelago. She recreates an outward bourgeois and bohemian environment that is largely dominated by her father, the sculptor Viktor Jansson. But mainly she captures the child's experience of existence – the mysterious and the magical. [1] [2]
Jansson's book has become one of the classic depictions of childhood in Swedish-language literature. [3]
The smaller you are, the bigger Christmas becomes. Inside under the tree, Christmas is huge, it is a green jungle with red apples and sadly harmonious angels spinning around themselves in their sewing thread and guarding the entrance to the primeval forest. And the primeval forest continues endlessly inside the glass balls, Christmas is absolute security thanks to the tree.
— From the chapter "Christmas"
Tove Marika Jansson was a Swedish-speaking Finnish author, novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. Brought up by artistic parents, Jansson studied art from 1930 to 1938 in Helsinki, Stockholm, and Paris. She held her first solo art exhibition in 1943. Over the same period, she penned short stories and articles for publication, and subsequently drew illustrations for book covers, advertisements, and postcards. She continued her work as an artist and writer for the rest of her life.
Comet in Moominland is the second in Finnish author Tove Jansson's series of Moomin books. Published in 1946, it marks the first appearance of several main characters, such as Snufkin and the Snork Maiden.
Finn Family Moomintroll is the third in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomins books, published in Swedish in 1948 and translated to English in 1950. It owes its title in translation to the fact that it was the first Moomin book to be published in English, and was actually marketed as the first in the series until the 1980s.
Moominland Midwinter is the sixth in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomin books, published in 1957. This book sees Jansson adopt a darker, more introspective tone compared to the earlier books that is continued in the remainder of the series. Often in the book Moomintroll is either lonely, miserable, angry or scared - the result of being forced to survive in a world to which he feels he does not belong. While preserving the charm of the previous novels, the story involves a more in-depth exploration of Moomintroll's character than before.
Ida Helmi Tuulikki Pietilä was an American-born Finnish graphic artist and professor. Pietilä is considered one of Finland's most influential graphic artists, with her work being shown in multiple art exhibitions. She worked as a teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, and later trained graphic artists and wrote multiple books about graphic arts.
The Moomins is a stop motion animated children's television series based on the Tove Jansson's Moomin series of books which was produced by Se-ma-for and Jupiter Film between 1977 and 1982 for Polish, Austrian and German television. The original broadcast in Poland premiered on November 19, 1978. The series was later sold to other countries including the UK. The British version was adapted by Anne Wood at FilmFair for ITV Central and broadcast in the UK. Series 1 was first shown on Monday 24 January 1983 at 4:15 pm and series 2 on Monday 7 January 1985 at 4.15pm on Children's ITV, and series 2 was repeated in 1986. The series was last repeated in its entirety in 1988. It was narrated by British actor Richard Murdoch.
The Exploits of Moominpappa, first published in 1950 and then considerably revised in 1968 under the title Moominpappa's Memoirs, is the fourth book in the Moomin series by Tove Jansson. The story found in this book is mentioned in the previous Moomin books, as Moominpappa writes his memoirs in those stories. Unlike Comet in Moominland and Finn Family Moomintroll, both versions of the novel were translated into English. Exploits of Moominpappa forms the basis of episodes 62, 63 and 64 in the 1990 TV series.
Moominpappa at Sea is the eighth book in the Moomin books by Finnish author Tove Jansson. First published in 1965, the novel is set contemporaneously with Moominvalley in November (1970), and is the final installment in the series where the titular Moomin family are present within the narrative.
Moominvalley in November is the ninth and final book in the Moomin series by Finnish author Tove Jansson, and was first published in her native Swedish in 1970, and in English in 1971. Set contemporaneously with her previous novel Moominpappa at Sea (1965), it is the only installment in the series where the titular Moomin family are actually absent. Instead it focuses on a set of other characters, including Snufkin, who come to live at Moominhouse during the onset of winter whilst its inhabitants are away, and the various interactions which they have with each other.
The Summer Book is a novel written by the Finnish author Tove Jansson in 1972.
A Winter Book is a collection of twenty short stories by Finnish author Tove Jansson, published by Sort of Books in 2006. The stories, some of which had not previously been published in English, were selected by Ali Smith, who also wrote the book's introduction and had previously reviewed The Summer Book for The Guardian. Thirteen of them are from Jansson's first book for adults, Sculptor's Daughter (1968), and the remaining seven are from four of her other works. Five were included in her 1998 Swedish language collection Messages (Meddelande), including the title piece, a partially fictionalised compilation of letters Jansson had received. They were translated into English from the original Swedish by Silvester Mazzarella, David McDuff and Kingsley Hart.
Moominvalley is a fictional place, where the Moomins live in the tales by Finnish author Tove Jansson.
Moomin is a comic strip created by Tove Jansson, and followed up by Lars Jansson, featuring their Moomin family of characters. The first comic strip, entitled Mumintrollet och jordens undergång was a short-lived project for the children's section of the Finland-Swedish leftist newspaper Ny Tid. It was written between 1947 and 1948, at the request of the editor, a friend of Jansson's, Atos Wirtanen. The series was published with two new strips weekly, and was mainly an adaptation of Comet in Moominland. The series has been reprinted in book form under the name Jorden går under by the newspaper.
Signe "Ham" Hammarsten-Jansson was a Swedish-Finnish graphic artist who designed, among other things, around 220 Finnish postage stamps during the course of three decades. She was the mother of Tove Jansson, creator of the Moomin characters.
Vivica Sophia Jansson is the daughter of cartoonist Lars Jansson and the niece of the famous Finnish writer and painter Tove Jansson. Jansson has worked as a Spanish language teacher, creative/artistic director, chairman, and majority shareholder of Oy Moomin Characters, Ltd, and provided direct oversight together with her father for the 1990 Moomin animated series.
The Moomins are the central characters in a series of novels, short stories, picture books, and a comic strip by Swedish-speaking Finnish writer and illustrator Tove Jansson, originally published in Swedish by Schildts in Finland. They are a family of white, round fairy-tale characters with large snouts that make them resemble the hippopotamus. However, despite this resemblance, the Moomin family are trolls. The family live in their house in Moominvalley.
Sniff is a character in the Moomin stories created by Tove Jansson. His debut is in the first Moomin-book The Moomins and the Great Flood. In addition to books, he is also a prominent character in the Moomin comics and animations.
Irina Petrovna Tokmakova was a Soviet and Russian writer of children's books, a poet, playwright, and a translator of classic children's literature into Russian. Her translations of Tove Jansson, Astrid Lindgren and Kenneth Grahame's works were particularly renowned. She was a laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation for children's literature, and the Alexander Grin literary prize.
Boel Westin is a Swedish literary scholar. She is professor emerita at Stockholm University, where she became Professor of Comparative Literature in 1998. From 2009 to 2013, Westin was Head of department at the Department of Comparative Literature and History of Ideas at Stockholm University, and became emerita in 2018.