Manhattan Dynamite and no pancakes: Tradition and normality in the work of Tove Jansson

It is not uncommon to read the Moomin tales through existentialist lenses. Although there might be natural reasons for focusing on and privileging the nine classical Moomin books, it would, however, be a mistake to overlook Jansson’s comic strips. This is so, not only because of the quality of Janss...

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Main Author: Zahavi, D
Format: Journal article
Published: De Gruyter 2018
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author Zahavi, D
author_facet Zahavi, D
author_sort Zahavi, D
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description It is not uncommon to read the Moomin tales through existentialist lenses. Although there might be natural reasons for focusing on and privileging the nine classical Moomin books, it would, however, be a mistake to overlook Jansson’s comic strips. This is so, not only because of the quality of Jansson’s drawings and because of the way she innovatively worked with and developed that graphic medium, but certainly also because of the stories they contain. When read alongside the books, the comic strips add important aspects and nuances to Jansson’s portrayal of human existence. By allowing herself the freedom to radically change the setting and scenery of the stories, Jansson was able to explore quite different topics than was possible in the novels, and in particular to offer a somewhat different account of the role of customs, normality and tradition.
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spelling oxford-uuid:56e472c9-6bdc-4e26-a9fb-6445ed0be28a2022-03-26T16:53:14ZManhattan Dynamite and no pancakes: Tradition and normality in the work of Tove JanssonJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:56e472c9-6bdc-4e26-a9fb-6445ed0be28aSymplectic Elements at OxfordDe Gruyter2018Zahavi, DIt is not uncommon to read the Moomin tales through existentialist lenses. Although there might be natural reasons for focusing on and privileging the nine classical Moomin books, it would, however, be a mistake to overlook Jansson’s comic strips. This is so, not only because of the quality of Jansson’s drawings and because of the way she innovatively worked with and developed that graphic medium, but certainly also because of the stories they contain. When read alongside the books, the comic strips add important aspects and nuances to Jansson’s portrayal of human existence. By allowing herself the freedom to radically change the setting and scenery of the stories, Jansson was able to explore quite different topics than was possible in the novels, and in particular to offer a somewhat different account of the role of customs, normality and tradition.
spellingShingle Zahavi, D
Manhattan Dynamite and no pancakes: Tradition and normality in the work of Tove Jansson
title Manhattan Dynamite and no pancakes: Tradition and normality in the work of Tove Jansson
title_full Manhattan Dynamite and no pancakes: Tradition and normality in the work of Tove Jansson
title_fullStr Manhattan Dynamite and no pancakes: Tradition and normality in the work of Tove Jansson
title_full_unstemmed Manhattan Dynamite and no pancakes: Tradition and normality in the work of Tove Jansson
title_short Manhattan Dynamite and no pancakes: Tradition and normality in the work of Tove Jansson
title_sort manhattan dynamite and no pancakes tradition and normality in the work of tove jansson
work_keys_str_mv AT zahavid manhattandynamiteandnopancakestraditionandnormalityintheworkoftovejansson