#also finnish youth novels

[doitinanotherlanguage]

April 2023 Wrap-up: 1930s

(You can read more about the challenge on my post introducing the challenge. Basically, Reading Through the Decades is a year-long reading challenge where we read books - and explore other media - from the 1900s to the 2020s, decade-by-decade.)

Another month gone by! I really appreciated going through the 1930s, learning so much. The more I read and learn about the 30s, the more I keep drawing (worrying) parallels to it and the present day. (idk i’m just feeling pessimistic and shitty bc we’re going to have a more right-wing government in Finland than we have had since the 1930s and we’re seriously gonna be so fucked 🙃)

Anyway.

What I Enjoyed This Month

📖 Lumikadun kertoja (2017; “The Storyteller of Snow Street”), Katja Kaukonen -> Lumikadun kertoja is a novel taking place from 1937 to 1942 in Poland. Bajek, the eponymous story-teller, arrives in a small Polish city, where he has been sent on a mission to observe and record the upcoming events (i.e. Nazi-Germany invading and occupying Poland). He is under strict orders not to get involved in things, but this soon proves to be difficult as he finds himself surrounded by the lively community living in Snow Street. -> This novel has a very intriguing premise since it’s made apparent in the beginning that Bajek is no ordinary man, but instead seems to be some kind of an angel. This novel made me think a lot about the choices we make, especially in difficult situations, and to question passive observation in politically effed up situations. 

📖 It Can’t Happen Here (1935), Sinclair Lewis --> This is a novel originally written and published in the 1930s as fascism was taking over all around, particularly in Europe, and the book also gained a sudden upsurge in popularity in the 2010s when Donald Trump became president of the US. The novel is a cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy and an alarming look at how fascism could take hold in the US. It juxtaposes sharp political satire with the chillingly realistic rise of a fear-mongering, anti-immigrant president who promises to make America proud and prosperous once more. --> This novel is very much of its own time yet it also gives so much to today’s reader. The back cover of my edition describes it as “a cautionary tale of liberal complacency,” which is a very apt description.

🎬 Als Hitler das rosa Kaninchen stahl (2019; When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit), dir. Caroline Link -> A Jewish family has to flee from 1933 Berlin, navigating unfamiliar lands and coping with the challenges of being refugees. The story tackles prejudice, exile, displacement, and adaptation, as told from the perspective of a nine-year-old child. -> This was a very touching film about being a refugee, based on a book about the author’s real-life experience.

🎬 Cradle Will Rock (1999), dir. Tom Robbins -> This historical drama film fictionalises the true events that surrounded the development of the 1937 musical The Cradle Will Rock by Marc Blitzstein. It’s a social commentary on the role of art and power in the 1930s, particularly amidst the struggles of the labour movement at the time. -> I love love love stories about people making subversive art and taking a stand. Labour activism and socialism is my jam, and this is also a fun ensemble movie.

📖 Huhtikuu (1932; “April”), Saima Harmaja -> This is a poetry collection by the young Finnish female poet Saima Harmaja, who died of tuberculosis at only 22 years of age. The poems are about world-weariness, the frenzy of youth, illness, loneliness, love, nature, and death. -> This was an impulse-loan from the library, and I’m so glad I stumbled upon it! Harmaja’s poems are so very touching and lovely. I particularly adore the poem “Syysilta” (”Autumn Evening”), which is a pretty, nostalgia-tinged poem about regretting not having kissed someone in the past.

🎬 The Group (1966), dir. Sidney Lumet -> Based on a novel of the same name by Mary McCarthy, this movie is about the lives of a group of eight female graduates from Vassar from 1933 to 1940. It is a social satire that touches upon controversial topics such as free love, contraception, abortion, lesbianism, and mental illness. -> I really want to read the book now! This film was super interesting; although I found the group of upper-class women endlessly snooty and a bit boring, but the topics addressed are nevertheless fascinating. And it’s always fun to find older movies that centre women!

[x0401x]

Jeweler Richard Fanbook Short Story #6

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Moonstone’s Charity

“The moon is beautiful, huh!”

By the time that we exited the Shiseido Parlor, it was already completely dark outside. The moon loomed a faint blue, as if overlooking the night view of Ginza. Putting his coat back on, Richard silently averted his eyes when I looked back at him with an “isn’t it”. At any rate, I had gotten wholly used to eating out with this guy on Saturdays after work. It was worth making him puddings as payback, I thought.

“Speaking of which, the stone you sold to today’s customers was a ‘stone of the moon’, wasn’t it?”

“Please call it ‘moonstone’. There are other rock specimens that are referred to as ‘stones of the moon’. Confusing the meaning of the words is deplorable.”

“Is that so?! Aight, I’ll take it to heart.”

Today’s customers were the parents of a naïve young lady, and the goods they bought were a moonstone jewelry set for her. It seemed that the young lady, who still had childish facial traits, was going to get married, so her parents ordered a necklace from Etranger for her to take along when the time came. Bearing a rainbow light over a milky blue color, the cabochon-cut moonstone was combined with white diamonds for the necklace and bracelet. It overflowed with a soulful beauty, almost as if it had borrowed the glow of an aurora from a Scandinavian sky.

Apparently, the moonstone, which was also one of the June birthstones, had been familiarized as a power stone since the distant past, and was renowned especially as a stone that celebrated the well-being and fortune of women. Having the commemorative jewelry delivered to her as a surprise, the young lady had cried until her eyes were bright red, but she recovered by way of a sweet royal milk tea, expressing gratitude to her parents with a sniffling nose. I believed that there were several forms of joy depending on each person, and what I had witnessed today was unmistakably one of them.

Even as we headed to the parking lot where Richard’s jaguar was, the moon followed us from the gaps between the buildings. As I walked while looking up and repeating, “It’s really pretty, so pretty”, Richard seemed exasperated.

“‘The moon is beautiful’, huh. Are college students not familiar with anecdotes of their own country’s literary figures nowadays?”

“Don’t they read that stuff? I’m in the faculty of economics, so there’s lots of people with names written in horizontal characters on our textbooks. Like Marx Weber or Mankiw.”

“What about Futabatei Shimei or Natsume Souseki?”

“I’ll ask you back: have you read them?”

“Yes.”

Uwah. As I cried out, the gorgeous jeweler sighed. “Honestly, today’s youths,” he said.

I ended up laughing at him without thinking.

“What is it?”

“You say ‘youths’ but you’re pretty young yourself.”

“I merely disagree with the worldwide trend of thinking that classical literature is an enjoyment for old age. The world, matured by the various interpretations of our ancestors, is deep and wide-ranging, as well as something that envelopes our hearts, just like stones.”

“Feels like the part where stones come up is ‘just as expected of Richard-san’.”

“I will take that as a compliment.”

“I am complimenting you. I have the feeling that I get smarter when we talk.”

“For you to be the kind who is satisfied with just ‘having a feeling’, my existence must be a harmful one.”

“I shall take this to heart... Aah, by the way, in sociology or some other class, I heard that the phrase ‘had a feeling’ has increased too much in pop music. Why is that? I guess it’s because, when they assert, ‘I can be strong!’ instead of, ‘I have the feeling I can be strong, I find myself inwardly wanting to retort with a, ‘Nope, nope, it’s not like that’ and the mood cools off.”

“Unfortunately, I have not studied the trends of modern Japan’s younglings. But if we are to speak of such things, even the power invoked by stones is a matter of ‘having a feeling’.”

“Is it okay for a jeweler to be saying that?”

“We are already out of business hours. Besides, this is not a negative subject in particular.”

Having arrived at the parking lot, Richard glanced at me and folded his arms lightly. He was a beautiful man from the top of his head to the tips of his toenails, like a doll made of moonlight. I was used to looking at his figure, but beautiful things will be beautiful. I could look at him without ever getting tired and it would put me in a good mood, just like the moon.

“W-What? What’s up?”

“I mean that people can become strong just from ‘having a feeling’. The power of belief is namely the force of human beings who seek hope even in a small gleam. Is that not a wonderful thing? On nights like these, when we ‘have the feeling’ that we are being protected by the light of the moon, people are sure to be in some sort of calm mood.” Saying this, as if to copy me or something, Richard looked up at the night sky above the buildings of Ginza and murmured, “The moon is truly beautiful.” He then smoothly got on the jaguar’s driver seat. I followed him on the passenger seat.

Still, this car’s seat base did an exquisite inclination no matter how many times I sat on it. It felt like a chair sticking to your body.

“Well, are you okay with dropping off at Takadanobaba?”

“Thank you. By the way, should I reply with the ‘I could die now’ already?”

Richard’s face at that moment was a spectacle. His mouth and beautiful eyebrows distorted as if to say, “Haah?”. His eyes stared dangerously at me.

“I mean, isn’t that the context? Futabate Shimei and Natsume Souseki, right?”

“I love you”.

Apparently, the literary masters of the Meiji Era had racked their brains about to how to translate a sentence that didn’t originally exist in the Japanese language. This would be a standard drinking party talk. Well, I didn’t know if there was a standard for all kinds of drinking parties, but just recently, during a drinking party we held with a group of men from the Department of Letter’s Faculty of Japanese Literature, we got fired-up over that topic. “Girls like this kind of talk, so you guys from the Faculty of Economics should also keep it in mind every once in a while,” they told us. Futabate Shimei used “I could die now” as a code for “I am yours” and Natsume Souseki used the anecdote “the moon is beautiful, isn’t it” as what was claimed to be a good anecdote for “I love you”. We were thankful for the trivia. That being said, none of the members who attended the drinking party had girlfriends, so I had thought there would be no opportunity to use this trivia, but to my surprise...

Richard, who had been stiff for a moment, exhaled with a loud “haaah” and turned the engine key. The body of the iron machine shuddered.

“That was terrifying.”

“So even you got freaked out! I can say some Japanese-like things too.”

“I will proceed to kick you if you say the same thing again. Be quiet for the time being.” Richard pulled the car out of the parking lot from backward, and as he stepped onto the accelerator and we got out into the street, the car trundled on with us in silence for a while. After we had passed four or five buildings, the beautiful jeweler opened his mouth again, “These words are not meant to be spoken lightly. A sentence taken out of context is like a lonely stone removed from a bracelet. In what kind of situation did people say, ‘The moon is beautiful’ or under what circumstances did they think, ‘I could die now’? What matters is the process until things arrived to that point, and not scraps of words. In the past, during the times when the people of this country were not as filled with imported mentalities as they are now, they probably understood this very well.”

“Hey, why’d you think of reading Natsume Souseki?”

Richard didn’t respond. I’d known for a while now that there were lots of things this guy didn’t want to answer, but his silence at the question was unexpected. Was something up?

Something related to moments when he might feel like saying things such as “the moon is beautiful” or “I could die now”.

It was clearly not a topic that I should pry too much about. Pretending to have found something interesting out the window, I put on a smile with no particular connotation. Leaning my body against the window, I looked up at the sky. “Ah, I can still see the moon.”

“You do not say. Is it beautiful?”

“Yup, but you’re more beautiful.”

Richard’s hand instantaneously glided in a swift motion. He pressed the car stereo switch. What played at an explosively loud volume wasn’t the Finnish rock that I had listened to before. It was a sutra in an ethnic-sounding female voice. That was all I could say. What was this? As I asked in a loud voice what language that song was in, he said it was Bengali. Was it an Indian song then? I couldn’t talk to him unless I shouted in one breath.

“HEY! IF I PISSED YOU OFF, SERIOUSLY, I’M SORRY!”

Richard’s mouth moved in the form of an “I cannot hear you”. It seemed he wasn’t in the mood for conversation. But he didn’t look angry. The corners of his lips were smiling just slightly. Like he wanted to say that this was so stupid it made him laugh. He appeared a lot more relaxed than when listing up the names of those literary figures, so I became kinda happy.

When I got out of the car, the southern country atmosphere was gone at once. At the roundabout in Takadanobaba, Richard took off with the jaguar as soon as he said goodbye. As the same old habit, for whatever reason, I ended up watching him off until I couldn’t see him anymore.

As I looked up the blue moon was floating in the black sky, unchanged. This was also a matter of “having a feeling”, but this emotion I was feeling today at this moment was a definite form of happiness too.

Honestly, the moon was beautiful tonight.

[green-ann]

Not only work...

From Margarita Legasova’s book

Valery Alekseevich was lucky: he was born and raised in a family that always had, collected and loved books, he was well-read from childhood, knew and loved Russian classics, not only literary, but also musical.

By nature, he was a leader: he was the first to find out what “Moscow reads”, quickly tried to buy the books. He often re-read Russian classics, knew the works of Western writers (R.P. Warren "All the King's Men", L. Waller "The Banker", etc.), followed the work of V.I. Belov, V.G. Rasputin, V.M. Shukshin, P.L. Proskurin (reread his novels "Black Birds", "Fate", "Your Name", wondering how sensitively the author understood the relationship of scientists, their mutual love, their envy and hatred.)

He appreciated the works of Y.V. Bondarev as of a smart analyst, psychologist, philosopher, with great interest read everything that was possible - "Battalions are asking for fire", "Youth of commanders", "Last volleys", "Hot snow", novels "Coast", "Choice", "Silence" , "Game" - all this was stimulation to reasoning, to thinking… He read and reread "Moments", he could not help but love the works of Y.V. Bondarev.

Since the second half of 1958, the two of us often visited theaters, the Concert Hall of P.I. Tchaikovsky, The Great Hall of the Conservatory. Much later, I learned that Valery's father had always had a huge number of invitations to openings, international film festivals, premieres of performances, and we were lucky to be involved in this area of Moscow life.
Our youth was wonderful: we studied at school, at the institute, entered postgraduate study, no one demanded payment from us, and we were even paid a scholarship.
Theatrical cashiers came to the institute, we listened and watched the entire repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR, the Maly Theater and almost all other theaters: tickets were at affordable price.

Before and after becoming a family, we often listened to music in the Hall of P.I. Tchaikovsky (Valery and I listened to P.I. Tchaikovsky's Italian Capriccio three times!), we bought season tickets in the Great Hall of the Conservatory, listened to fugues by J.S. Bach in different versions and much more, it was a part of our life.

We knew and loved the music of Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov. Valery Alekseevich highly appreciated his musical heritage - "The Blizzard", suites (musical intro "Time - forward", "Country of fathers", "Wooden Russia", "Kursk songs",...) he considered G.V. Sviridov being one of the great composers with a strongly-pronounced distinctness.

As a boy, Valery received a musical education. Over the years, the desire to listen to and understand classical music has grown.

He loved Grieg, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky (especially "Italian Capriccio", Concerto No 1, Symphony No 6). He liked the works of Mozart, Shostakovich, Prokofiev. In later years, he became interested in A. Schnittke, when this composer became better known in our country. Sometimes we went to the Olympic Complex, tried to get acquainted with the modern stage. The three of us listened to the last concert for organ and flute - our eldest grandson Misha was with us - in Nida on the Curonian Spit in the summer of 1987.

I am looking over our home records (the music he loved to listen to the last year and a half of his life): Latvian organ, Riga; Finnish organ music (J. Sibelius, P. Kostiainen performed by Matti Vainio); "Manfred" P.I. Tchaikovsky; J. Haydn, J. Kekkonen - concerts for cello and orchestra performed by the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra; J. Haydn, concert №1, W.А. Mozart, Concerto No. 5 for violin and orchestra (P. Kogan); E. Villa Lobos "Brazilian Bachians" No. 2.4; W.A. Mozart, sonatas for violin and piano (I. Oistrakh); W.A. Mozart, Mass KV No. 139 ...

In the last year and a half of his life, Valery Alekseevich, burdened with post-Chernobyl diseases, feeling of a non-demanded personality, fatigue, feeling of dissatisfaction, organized alienation him from work, disregard of his own personality, experienced a deep psychological crisis.

Music, melodies, chords of G.V. Sviridov, ideas, thoughts, words of Y.V. Bondarev were spiritually close to V.A. Legasov, therefore the academician revered these of his contemporaries, considering them outstanding... Tears were born from their works: sometimes - of pride and joy, sometimes - of hopelessness, grief and melancholy ...

For five years, from 1964 till 1969, we lived in a 22-meter apartment on Nizhegorodskaya Street with two small children. Although we had only city transport at our disposal, we often took walks to Kuskovo, Ostankino, Arkhangelskoye, Tsaritsyno (translator’s note – Memorial estates, surrounded by large parks in Moscow). In Tsaritsyno, we usually went skiing in winter. Very young children, together with their father, went down the slides, and I could do nothing but stand aside in fear, hoping for a safe coasting. For such walks, we took with us thermos flasks with tea, sandwiches, oranges, and in the summer - tomatoes, melons, watermelons.

In his younger years, Valery Alekseevich with his colleagues N.S. Babaev, and I.I. Kuzmin quite often traveled around the country as lecturers of the All-Union Society "Knowledge". They visited Vladivostok, in many regions of Central Asia, including remote ones.

Valery Alekseevich did not like any long term feasts. The exception was very rare, necessary receptions of foreign guests. If circumstances permitted we tried to spend Holidays and weekends on trips.

Although his own car has always been, as they say, a desired possession, the first and last - the only car that was bought by a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences V.A. Legasov was GAZ-24 in 1977 for 9333 rubles. The initial capital for this purchase was the quota of the USSR State Prize, received for scientific achievements in the field of synthesis of compounds of noble gases in 1976.
We celebrated every New Year at home, with our family, sometimes in a holiday centre.

...to be continued.

@elenatria @alyeen1 @litttlesilkworm @the-jewish-marxist @drunkardonjunkyard @valerafan2 @borislegasov @borislegasovv @rbmk-ana @attachedtofictionalpeople @owlboxes

[skruttet]

Tags I Use to Help You Navigate My Blog

I use the archive & its ‘tagged’ function to find certain things on my blog and thought it’d help others (if you wanna find clips of a certain language for Moominvalley, or posts about a certain book, etc.) so here’s a list of links to some of the tags I use and I’ll pin this post to my blog:

Moomin Novels & Picture Books

The Moomins and the Great Flood Comet in Moominland (includes the 1992/2020 film) Finn Family Moomintroll The Memoirs of Moominpappa Moominsummer Madness Moominland Midwinter Tales from Moominvalley Moominpappa at Sea Moominvalley in November

The Book About Moomin, Mymble and Little My (Anything to do with the animation is tagged ‘hur gick det sen?’) Who Will Comfort Toffle? (Anything to do with the animation is tagged ‘Vem ska trösta knyttet?’) The Dangerous Journey Skurken i muminhuset

Tove Jansson Life, Art, Words: The Authorised Biography by Boel Westin Tove Jansson: Work and Love by Tuula Karjalainen Letters from Tove includes a looot of extracts from translations of Tove’s letters Möte med Tove Jansson by Tordis Ørjasœter

Moomin Museum TV Guide Nationalmuseum Exhibition Catalogue

Moomin Comic Strips

Mumintrollet och jordens undergång

Tove and Lars’ strips are each tagged with their English names; here’s a list you can use on Wikipedia.

Lars comics D&Q haven’t published (scanned & translated by myself)

Muumi Lehti/Moomin Magazine Masterpost of translated Muumi Lehti stories Moominmamma’s Adventurous Youth

Moomin Stage Plays

Mumintrollet och Kometen Troll i kulisserna Mischief and Mystery in Moominvalley (there’s also just a lot of other Moomin puppet shows out there that I tend to just tag ‘puppets’. there’s also a Russian one I tagged ‘Муми-тролль-и-шляпа-волшебника’ but that doesn’t seem to work in the archive smh) Dancing Moominvalley

There’s a few ballets as well but I’ve only got a few posts on them.

Moomin TV Series

Die Muminfamilie Mumintrollet Mumindalen Christmas Calendar Mūmin Shin Mūmin Opowiadania Muminków/Fuzzy Felt Moomins Tanoshii Mūmin Ikka & Bōken Nikki Moominvalley (English) (concept art tagged as ‘concept art’) Moominvalley (Finnish) Moominvalley (Finland-Swedish) Moominvalley (Japanese) Moominvalley (French) Moominvalley (Scots Gaelic) Moominvalley (Polish) Moominvalley (Northern Sámi) Moominvalley (Inari Sámi) Moominvalley (Skolt Sámi) Moominvalley (Hebrew) Moominvalley (Cantonese) Moominvalley (Mandarin) Moominvalley (Norwegian) Moominvalley (Icelandic) Moominvalley (Portuguese) Moominvalley (German) Moominvalley (Estonian) Moominvalley (Italian) Moominvalley (Latin-American Spanish) Moominvalley (Welsh) Moominvalley (Dutch)

Misc. Moomin Stuff

Tableaux Muumimaailma (Moominworld; theme park in Naantali, Finland) Moominvalley Park (Theme park in Japan)

All Moomin characters should just be tagged as their name (I think I usually cut the ‘the’ such as with ‘the joxter’ though sometimes I include it lol) but I tag posts about the Mymble’s Daughter as ‘mymble jr’.

Gifs that I have made are tagged ‘my gif’ and video & photo edits I’ve made are tagged ‘my edit’.

Also got a favourites tag that I usually use for fanart I really love but there’s some other stuff in there, too.

Got a tag for the 2020 TOVE film.

TRIGGERS I TAG (feel free to ask me to add any!): Guns = #gun tw Violence = #violence tw Death = #death mention & #death tw Suicide = #suicide tw NSFW content = #nsfw & #murrmin Syringes/injections = #syringe tw & #injection tw Epilepsy (flashing images/vids usually) = #epilepsy tw

I thiiink that’s all the important tags worth mentioning? I’ll add anything else I think of later.

[katiesclassicbooks]

Review: The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

Synopsis: 

The Summer Book was written by the Finnish author Tove Jansson and was published in 1972.  This is a quiet book set in a series of summer vignettes on a small island in the gulf of Finland. The book follows the relationship between a grandmother and her young granddaughter Sophia and the small happenings in their lives that are very connected to nature. Life and death, youth and age,  coexist with each other in this book so closely it’s hard to tell them apart. They are halves of the same whole as illustrated in these pages. 

Storyline:

This is a very quiet book. There is no plot. Just little events from summer days on this small island. Honestly I’m not even sure if they’re all from the same summer. It sounds like it could be uninteresting, but to me it held a sort of enchantment and it all came to life vividly. I know it’s a translation, but the writing was absolutely beautiful. Such lifelike description that was poignant in a way. I am a sucker for rich and lovely description, especially of nature and this book delivered in that way. While this book seems too simple to contain depth, there was a hidden depth to it. Youth and age are compared. Death and life. Within this island as elsewhere in nature the cycle of death and life stands out. Death is in the background of the book the whole time as it is very briefly mentioned near the beginning that Sophia’s mother has recently died. Not only that, but you can tell the grandmother is inching closer to the end of her life. Yet, Sophia is in the beginning stages of her life. All is so magical, new and a curiosity. You see how youth and old age are similar. They both take pleasure in the simple things in life. They both find a sense of magic. The grandmother gets just as lost in ‘playing’ as Sophia does at times. She becomes wrapped up in carving creatures in a tangled forest on the island. She becomes very involved in creating a mini Venice with Sophia. Helping Sophia write a ‘book’ on what happens when worms get split in two. 

Setting:

The Summer Book is set on a small island in the gulf of Finland. This was one of the best settings I have read about in a long time. The setting was a major part of the book. It truly came to life. I could see it and even feel it in a way. The wind, the sea, the moonlight, the mating ducks, birds, flowers, forest etc. Jannson’s writing about nature I feel like would evoke certain moods based on what she was describing and the words she used as well. It was peaceful and happy, yet melancholic and wistful at the same time.  It was also different and interesting to read a book set on an island of Finland, that’s a rare setting I may not come across again! I do love reading about new places. Also, because of the island’s nordic location, it had a different feel than what I typically think of when I think of island settings. 

Characters:

The characters of Sophia and her grandmother were the other big part of this book besides the nature and setting of the island. What fantastic characters they were too! Sophia’s dad actually lives on the island with them, but he is barely mentioned. He seems like he is just a part of the scenery. The spotlight was all on Sophia and her grandmother. They were so immensely likable, but not actually nice characters. The grandmother was cantankerous, grumpy and rather blunt. Yet, you could tell she was loving underneath the surface. She had a type of childlike charm as well. Sophia was wild and she would often yell and get mad at things. The fact that she has recently experienced death hovers in the background and she seems to embrace life fiercely, yet seemed to pose a bit of a challenge to it at the same time. She could possibly annoy some people, but I loved her and her spunk though. Her and her grandmother were similar in a way and so adorable honestly. Something I found hilarious at some points was that Sophia would grab on to a curse word and keep using it for a minute. She would keep saying ‘Jesus Christ!’ or during this one episode she kept saying everything was ‘bloody’. Maybe some people would find it distasteful for a child to be cursing, but I fall into the camp of finding it rather humorous. The spirt of Sophia and her grandmother will stick with me for quite awhile. 

Did I Like It?:

I loved it honestly! I did expect to like this book, but not to love it. It was truly a small and quiet little masterpiece though. Vivid and impressionable despite it’s simplicity. It was also indeed a great summer read. I am very curious to check out some of Tove Jannson’s other books as well now! 

Do I Recommend It?:

Yes! It’s a great summer read like I mentioned. If you like quiet, plotless novels when they’re done well, this is a great one. This is also for fans of beautiful nature descriptions and great characters as well. 

~Katie 

[soliti]

Astrid Swan

2021 was a year during which I suffered from the side effects of a row of cancer treatments. This meant that I relied on plenty of streaming, reading and music that was not published this year, but came out a long time ago and functioned as confort. I also went through the making of my album D/other this year and finished and defended a doctoral dissertation, so my time for new creative efforts was very limited. Then there was Covid-19 always lurking, making me seek for those familiar comforts too. Still, I did find some brilliant new art this year and will highlight three books in my list below. 1. Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark (2021) Being that I am obsessed with all things Sylvia Plath, I had to read Red Comet the second it came out. This biography is over a thousand pages long (with endnotes) and I admit I was not sure if the world needed another Plath bio in 2021. But turns out we did need this one. Clark’s approach is both minutely in-depth and contextualizing in a manner that I have yearned to read about Plath but hadn’t until now. It appears that finally, enough time has passed and enough insight is available about the mid-20th century and what it was like for girls and women; or talented, creative women. I remember being told as a young university student studying American literature that Sylvia Plath cannot be studied from a feminist perspective. This upset me then and now. Clark’s book shows that in fact, a feminist understanding of the structures of society and culture in the US and the UK are helpful in seeing Plath and her life and art not from one angle but the multiple facets that constructed them. Clark elevates Plath into the status of one of the most important poets of the 20th century and backs up her statement with the evidence she pools from archives, through her analysis of poems and her readings of Plath’s diaries as well as all the material produced about her over the decades. Finally, a complex, multi-faceted artist who is also a mother is not just seen through mental-health struggles or her suicide. If you wish to call someone a genius, make it Sylvia.

2. Last Chance Texaco: Chronicles of a Troubadour by Rickie Lee Jones (2021) Like Rickie Lee Jones songs, her memoir is full of characters that drive through the pages in their curvy pastel colored convertibles, say something funny and to the point and are never to be seen again. Still, more than this jazzy jive vibe, her memoir paints fragmented narratives of sorrow. Rickie Lee has been as wild a child as she appears in her songs. But this wildness appears a response to a family that didn’t hold together and was always changing places, cities and towns. Rickie Lee ran away from home many times. Sometimes she ended up somewhere exciting like San Francisco and other times a juvenile jail in the midlands. What this memoir illustrates is how a childhood forms us and tattoos patterns to us that are nearly impossible to escape. Against her stories from childhood and youth, the narrative of becoming a rockstar-musician in the 1970s is not as interesting, but luckily she doesn’t try to tell all. What is more important in her writing is the emotion she held: how the sorrow like a seed sown as a baby of a line of vaudevillians and runaways burrowed in her until she was nearly drowned. 3. Bechi by Koko Hubara (2021) I’ve never had a novel dedicated to me until last spring. It’s amazing! What an honor that it is that it is Bechi. Hubara‘s novel is about a novelist mother who has moved to Finland from Israel and her adult daughter whose experience of life differs greatly from her mother’s. The novel describes Shoshana‘s experience of Finland after leaving behind Israel and her relatives and their expectations. Also, the book addresses the silenced history of disappearances of Yemenite Jewish babies in the newly founded state of  Israel. This book should have won some Finnish literary prizes already. I hope they are coming. And also, it should be translated into English and published by FSG in the US. Just saying, that’s how good it is. The language of Bechi deserves a special mention. It is so visceral, embodied, poetic and flowing that the book is impossible to put down. It makes you feel like maybe you can be fed by literature afterall and need no other nourishment.

[inhalingwords]

Monthly Wrap Up || June 2017

A Room with a View by E. M. Forster || Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf || Seitsemän veljestä by Aleksis Kivi || Nevada by Imogen Binnie

A Room with a View by E. M. Forster

A Room with a View is a delightful comedy of manners about Lucy Honeychurch, a young woman navigating life in the restrained culture of the Edwardian era. The novel is divided into two parts; the first being set in Florence, Italy, and the second in Surrey, England.

This one was my favourite read of the month! Such a fresh, tender, witty romance full of youth, passion and battle for freedom.

Life, so far as she troubled to conceive it, was a circle of rich, pleasant people, with identical interests and identical foes. In this circle one thought, married and died. Outside it were poverty and vulgarity, for ever trying to enter, just as the London fog tries to enter the pine-woods, pouring through the gaps in the northern hills. But in Italy, where anyone who chooses may warm himself in equality, as in the sun, this conception of life vanished. Her senses expanded; she felt that there was no one whom she might not get to like, that social barriers were irremovable, doubtless, but not particularly high. You jump over them just as you jump into a peasant’s olive-yard in the Apennines, and he is glad to see you. She returned with new eyes.

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Mrs Dalloway is a classic one-day novel about time, memory, war and the city, set in 1920′s London and told in the stream-of-consciousness style. The point of view revolves slowly around, from character to character, coming always back to the titular protagonist, Clarissa Dalloway.

One of the best things in life is when you’re reading a classic and, only a couple pages in, it turns out that the protag is queer. I had a small fist pump moment when that happened. Otherwise, the book didn’t exactly make me jump with joy. It’s slow and meandering, and while I love those types of books, something about this one just didn’t do it for me. I liked the book and it’s molasses atmosphere, but I didn’t love it. The prose is stunning, the subject matter interesting, but something about the book just didn’t click with me. I feel like I need to come back to the book some other time to fully appreciate it.

Seitsemän veljestä by Aleksis Kivi

Seitsemän veljestä (engl. Seven Brothers) is a significant Finnish classic by Finland’s national author, first published in 1870. It tells the story of seven brothers, stubborn and quick-tempered though capable and (occasionally) hard-working, who -- confronted with the task of learning to read before they can be accepted into official adulthood through church confirmation -- decide to run away into the wilderness and live life on their own terms. Cue copious amounts of alcohol, blasphemy, fighting a lot, accidentally burning down things (like their newly built house, nbd), near-death experiences, and religious epiphanies. #justfinnishthings

While I’m very familiar with the story, this was actually my first time reading this novel in full. And I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed. The book has been criticised in the past (especially when it was first published) of being too crude and not moralistic enough, but to be honest I found it too moralistic (and quite repetitive and dull at points). My favourite things were the distinct personalities of each of the brothers, the witty dialogue and sibling banter between them, the vivid stories told from time to time by one of the brothers, and just the pure Finnishness of the language (I’ve read so much in English that every time I read Finnish lit nowadays I almost cry koska suomalaisuus).

Nevada by Imogen Binnie

The moment I read the first line of the summary of this book I knew I had to get it and read it, so here it is, in the hopes that, if anyone’s reading this, they’ll be similarly inspired: “Nevada is the darkly comedic story of Maria Griffiths, a young trans woman living in New York City and trying to stay true to her punk values while working in retail.” It sounds fantastic, and I can attest to the fact that the book delivers. (Oh, does it ever!)

Nevada is hilarious, queer, political, messy, raw, and so fucking real I almost cried several times reading it because I related so hard to the main character who is kinda lost in life, kinda directionless, kinda “what now?”. If you’re looking for a book with a relatable protag grappling with twentysomething life-befuddlement and lowkey existential crisis, this is the book for you. This is also the book for you if you want to read a fantastic book with a trans protag that is written by a trans author.

Also: “The run-on sentences, the internal monologues, the lack of quotation marks; it’s like Binnie takes the boring, pretentious stylistic choices of the (all male) beat writers and punches them in the face. The way young women speak, which is so often maligned as being stupid and vapid, is uplifted to a literary level." (x)

Here’s the thing, James H., she says, still looking all dazed but suddenly lucid. What do you want? Not all this, he says. No I know, Maria says, But what do you want? It’s easy to say that where you are and what you have are dumb, but it’s harder and probably more productive to name concrete things and aspire to them. You know?

[essenceoffilm]

Leaving the Summer Behind

While it is a true pleasure to discover something new in the rich history of cinema, there always lurks a danger when it comes to evaluating these novel discoveries. The danger is due to the fact that one is usually more easily lured by the enchantment of exoticism, the allure of the unknown, than the ordinariness of the familiar. This Spring proved to include one of the most interesting program series in years for the Finnish film archive: a series of West-German films from the 1950′s curated by the film critic Olaf Möller who is insanely familiar with the blind spots of film history. Perhaps telling of the oblivion surrounding the era is that I had seen only one film from it prior to the series [1]. I was able to catch eleven films out of the fourteen films of the series [2], which surely makes me less than a connoisseur of the period, but provides me with enough information to prefer one film over another (I think) in a fashion cleared from the diversions of exoticism (I hope). The two films I was most fascinated by were Helmut Käutner’s The Rest Is Silence (1959, Der Rest ist Schweigen) and Harald Braun’s The Last Summer (1954, Der letzte Sommer). Discussion on the former shall be postponed and the latter shall be tackled now. The Last Summer is less well-known than Käutner’s semi-classic; it is, in fact, incredibly unknown outside Germany, though it is available on YouTube in poor quality, to the extent that it has less than 20 ratings on IMDb and that this is the first post on this site with the tags of the film’s title and its director both of whom are, however, very worthy of attention. 

Based on a novel by Ricarda Huch, The Last Summer tells the story about a young man, Rikola Valbo (played by Hardy Krüger) arriving to a small fictional town by train in order to assassinate the president just roughly two weeks before the next election. Aided by his partner-in-crime Gawan, Rikola sabotages a bridge which the president is about to cross in his car. As the girl who Rikola has met earlier, Jessika (played by Liselotte Pulver) approaches from the other side of the bridge, Rikola waves at her to warn her which is simultaneously seen as a sign directed to the president whose car is approaching from the opposite side. As the president exits his car and comes to Rikola, Gawan escapes from his hideout under the bridge, but Rikola is mistakenly perceived by the president as his savior which makes Rikola the-son-he-never-had for him. When Rikola moves to the president’s residence, he finds out that Jessika is the president’s daughter. Rikola is torn by a dilemma: his obligation toward Gawan and the mission, his budding romance with Jessika, and his ever-growing understanding for the president. His dilemma deepens as Gawan is killed by the president’s guards during an intense sequence of duck hunting. Rikola struggles between the options to assassinate and not to assassinate, but ends up letting go of the mission as well as his relationship with Jessika. 

Reasons for the film’s worthiness to my mind are plenty. Its exquisite functionality comes down essentially to a fluent stylistic program, great acting by Krüger and Pulver especially, and polished dramaturgy where all that is not necessary has been excluded. The milieu is a fictional village whose gorgeous mountains, lakes, and landscapes remind one of Switzerland. There is a surreal quality to this milieu as the townspeople gather around big speakers from where the president’s voice emerges to proclaim political truths. In a word, the film has a tone and a mood like no other.

Braun’s precise and detailed mise-en-scène in The Last Summer creates the setting for a layered utilization of both deeper and shallower planes in beautiful dynamic compositions. The classical three-point-lighting is soft, giving an impression of the Sun gently shining in the summer sky on the space inhabited by the characters as well as the Moon lightly shining in the dusk. The editing rhythm is calm, and the camera moves as it follows the characters. Besides such following shots, camera movement also occurs often when the camera tracks forward to the characters, compressing the framing as well as the atmosphere, or backward from the characters, expanding the framing and amplifying the characters’ embeddedness to the environment. Changes to the consistent stylistic program include a canned camera angle when Rikola reveals his original intentions of assassination to Jessika, thus emphasizing the dramatic effect: something is about to break in a way that cannot be fixed. Another is the way how Braun leaves the camera to linger on an empty space for a brief moment after Rikola leaves the railway station where he went after the above revelation and where he encountered the grief-stricken wife of Gawan. The accusing gaze of the wife directed to Rikola is utterly stirring in the film’s only (to the best of my knowledge) point of view shot. It is convincing enough to convince Rikola to consider the assassination once more, though he gives it up again after talking with the president, as well as to convince the spectator of the utilization of the cinematic device which would seem contradictory to the stylistic consistency of the film. 

In addition to guilt, integral themes concern the moral and political questions which arise from the conversations between Rikola and the president. In one of his speeches through the speakers, the president divides the politicians into two groups: those who believe in change and those who believe in preservation. Rikola represents the former, that is, liberalism, while the president does the latter, that is, conservatism, though he might wish to see himself in a middle ground between such opposites. In one of their conversations, Rikola demands in a nearly Rousseauesque fashion that a leader ought to govern for the people, whereas the president puts emphasis on the mission of helping the people. Both notions could have their paternalistic connotations, but surprisingly enough Rikola seems to lie more into this direction in his quasi-enlightenment faith in the general will à la Rousseau. In the great finale, where Rikola returns to the president’s residence, which he left after revealing his plan of assassination to Jessika, to try to avenge Gawan’s death, the president manages to make Rikola give up his bullets which he shoots into the cold solitude of the moonlit night. The president manages to do this by claiming that violence can be just as well a form of weakness as it can of strength. He considers Rikola’s solutions and the thought processes behind them to be simple and naive. In a powerful speech, he proclaims that it is much more difficult to still have faith in humanity after all one has been through, adding that he himself does, nonetheless. 

There are many ways to interpret this ending, I believe. First, it could be seen as reactionary. One could argue that Braun shows signs of reactionary thought before the radical 60′s as the youth dreaming of social change have to give up on their naive dreams on the threshold of maturity. This interpretation could, in fact, be wider when it comes to the German cinema of the 50′s and as such explain why the era was buried after the Oberhausen manifesto of 1962 changed German cinema for good. Second, the ending could be seen as pessimistic. One could argue that Braun portrays the president as a manipulating figure who succeeds in deceiving Rikola to give up his ideals which are a threat to his established republican power. On the level of explicit meaning, perhaps the first interpretation seems more appropriate, emphasizing an uplifting moral, but on the level of implicit meaning, many questions are left open with regards to the president and his potential tyranny. For one, why were Rikola and his associates so keen on assassinating him had he not done anything wrong? Why does he proclaim his political messages through speakers rather than talking to the people of his nation directly, something that is never seen in the film? Third, the ending could be seen as a mutual synthesis where Rikola leaves extreme radicalism and violence behind, but where his presence has also provoked a reconsideration of social values in the president’s family: we see, for example, that Jessika begins to question the moral entitlement of the privileged position of her presidential family. 

Braun’s film refuses to give easy answers which makes it an exception in political cinema of the time. Few comparisons come to mind when it comes to films of the 50′s which tackled such complex social questions in such a layered fashion. Though quite a different film, Kazan’s Face in the Crowd (1957) does come close. It is interesting to compare Braun’s The Last Summer with two films in particular. In the program series I saw, it was screened right after Falk Harnack’s Der 20. Juli (1955), which is one of the many films about the famous Operation Valkyrie, the attempt of high German officials to assassinate Adolf Hitler during WWII. In Harnack’s film, the assassination, of course, fails, but the film ends with an uplifting, nearly spiritual note where the attempt in itself is felt as something vital. In Braun’s film, on the other hand, the assassination does not fail, but it is abandoned due to a more or less ambiguous change of heart. As the above discussion might point out, Braun’s film comes across surprisingly as more pessimistic. The other comparison I would like to draw is a peculiar one, that is, Michelangelo Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point (1970) which ends with the phoenix-like ideological reawakening of a young woman who fantasizes a political mass destruction. The film famously ends in a montage where the American capitalist society blows up to pieces followed by a serene shot of a sunset accompanied by Roy Orbison’s song “So Young”. In both Zabriskie Point and The Last Summer, there is at play an intriguing undertone which gives a melancholic if not pessimistic touch to the seemingly happy end; it is a pessimism for the death of dreams as well as the loss of youth. If the protagonist of Zabriskie Point wakes up, the protagonist of The Last Summer might fall asleep, but regardless both films share a similar darker undertone as if saying that neither really mattered.

In order to appreciate this undertone, it might be beneficial to take a closer look at the film’s two last shots. The first of these is a dynamic shot where the camera tracks slowly forward to Rikola’s face as he stands by the open door of the president’s residence after deciding to give up on the assassination plan. Next to his face is a window’s curtain waving due to a mild breeze as if concealing him into the tranquility of dreams. The second of these shots, that is, the final shot of the film, is a static shot, a long shot, where Rikola is seen crossing the bridge almost as a mere silhouette due to nightfall. The bridge is, of course, the same bridge where Rikola and Gawan tried to kill the president but failed and thus established the relationship Rikola subsequently developed with the president. Another bridge is seen during the opening credits of the film as Rikola arrives to the town by train. This feeling of arrival and beginning surely ties into the final shot, thus working as a narrative seal, but it most obviously associates with the key scene where Rikola and Gawan attempt to assassinate the president. The failure is due to Rikola’s unconscious (or subconscious, your choice) desire not to kill which manifests itself as his love for Jessika, a token of his respect for humanity which eventually prevents him from killing the president even when he has a gun targeted straight to the man’s head during the intense duck hunting sequence. The bridge is the place where new connections emerge. The accolades granted to Rikola by the president are but the first seeds of his ever-growing guilt. This guilt is, in part, due to the double meaning of the place: something new begins there while something utterly different was supposed to begin. It is an ambiguous place of both failure and success.

Now the question arises: what does the crossing of the bridge in the end mean? One answer, in line with the first interpretation presented above, is that Rikola outdoes himself and crosses the gulf of his own naive radicalism. Another, in line with the third interpretation, is that Rikola steps into the middle ground between liberalism and conservatism where the president proclaims to reside in. Finally, in line with the second pessimistic interpretation, one could argue that Rikola’s gesture of crossing the bridge is nearly suicidal, an identification with destruction and oblivion. He has, after all, just lost everything: the budding intellectual connection to the president, his friend Gawan and the respect of Gawan’s wife, his self-respect for that matter, and, of course, the love of his life, Jessika who simply cannot get over the fact that Rikola was planning the assassination of her father while their romance was starting to blossom. The act of crossing the bridge is the act of leaving. Rikola leaves the town, and in that sense everything, behind. Perhaps he goes back to the university where he is studying law. He returns from his summer vacation. He leaves this one summer behind, a summer which was, of course, something more than any other summer; it was, just as grim as it sounds, the last summer. 

When it comes to the subject matter and especially the milieu of The Last Summer, the film could be seen as a critical comment on the genre of Heimatfilm. Heimatfilme were a series of films produced in Germany from the late 40′s to the late 60′s which were characterized by sentimentality, conservative values, and formulaic love triangle narratives where a “good boy” wins the girl from a “bad boy”. Many national cinemas have showed signs of a similar genre, modified for the characteristics of that nation, which bloomed around the same time, but Heimatfilm might be the best known internationally, perhaps due to ridicule, perhaps due to critical commentary. What is interesting about The Last Summer with regards to the genre of Heimatfilm is that the group of the Oberhausen manifesto as well as the New German Cinema, which took shape around that group essentially, criticized Heimatfilme very strongly and some of their films have been seen as taking a critical stance toward Heimatfilme. Now, both of those groups are also responsible for the oblivion surrounding the era of postwar German cinema in general in a fashion similar to the way French New Wave buried the postwar French cinéma de qualité under its own innovation. I would not be surprised if Braun’s The Last Summer had dropped into the category of Heimatfilm in the eyes of the new German filmmakers, but the intriguing thing is that The Last Summer is essentially a very subtle and mature criticism of Heimatfilm and its lack of moral ambiguity. The film addresses profound moral as well as romantic or human questions which become more complex than those in Heimatfilme, but this address takes place in a similarly idyllic environment which thus, in a sense, is elevated into a higher level of critical discourse. 

Already by its very title, Braun’s The Last Summer seems to declare opposition toward Heimatfilm, or homeland films of the summer. It is about leaving the summer behind in the sense that the summer captures not only Heimatfilm but also youth, naivety of dreams, and perhaps even a radical or reformative ideology. Like in Zabriskie Point, there is something deeply melancholic about this departure from the summer of dreams, the faith in humanity, which seems to have something to do with aging and death. It is as if The Last Summer came across as the summer film to end all summer films whose summers might never have really existed in the first place. 

Notes:

[1] This is Peter Lorre’s Der Verlorene (1951)

[2] These are, in chronological order, Der letzte Sommer (1954, Braun), So war der deutsche Landser (1955, Baumeister), Der 20. Juli (1955, Harnack), Das dritte Geschlecht (1957, Harlan), Wir Wunderkinder (1958, Hoffmann), Das Mädchen Rosemarie (1958, Thiele), Rose Bernd (1958, Staudte), Der Rest ist Schweigen (1959, Käutner), Am Galgen hängt die Liebe (1960, Zbonek), Kirmes (1960, Staudte), and Das Spukschloss im Spessart (1960, Hoffmann). 

[tolkients]

    Works edited and published by Tolkien’s son Christopher generally take the forefront in presenting the rest of Middle-earth to eager readers looking for other doorways into that world, however, a close look at the cover of The Story of Kullervo will reveal his name is not present. Instead, Dr. Verlyn Flieger edited and compiled this document, which contains Tolkien’s first ever short story for the first time in a published volume, also titled “The Story of Kullervo,” written before his service in the Great War and before he truly began work on Middle-earth. The story is an unfinished rendition of a Finnish legend about the same character, originally recorded in the Kalevala, and is not set within Middle-earth at all. As his earliest prose work, it represents the genesis of a number of Tolkien’s literary preoccupations. Characters like Éowyn, Túrin, and others find some of their original inspirations here, and scholars have tracked some of his language work back to this story.

     The story, both in the Kalevala and as it is told here, is deeply tragic and above all other things strange. His father murdered by his evil uncle Untamo, Kullervo, whose name means Wrath, is raised in slavery along with his sister Wanona, meaning Weeping, by his bitter, depressed mother. He meets a magical dog who assisted his father named Musti and survives a number of attempts by Untamo to end his life. After these failed, Untamo sells Kullervo east into the dangerous land of Russia to serve under a blacksmith and his harsh wife. From there, things somehow get even worse for the poor antihero, but I will not elaborate too long here. For those familiar with Tolkien’s The Children of Húrin, I will simply say that the story closely resembles that of Túrin, but with a markedly lower number of dragons, and leave it at that.

    The strange tone of the story is complimented by an equally strange, musical, mostly punctuation-less prose broken up by poems and songs. Characters often have multiple names and Tolkien switches between them with little warning. Putting it kindly, it is at times rather hard to follow. It ends, of course, right before the climax of the story, in the middle of a sentence, no less, and we are left with nothing but Tolkien’s notes to fill out its conclusion. For many readers, these things alone would make the story rather difficult to stomach.

    However, for those interested in the development of Tolkien’s world specifically or worldbuilding in general, both the story and the accompanying essays could prove rather useful, and even captivating. In Kullervo’s mother, we see Éowyn as Gandalf describes her to Éomer, speaking into “the darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, and the walls of her bower closing in about her, a hutch to trammel some wild thing in.” In Kullervo, we, of course, see Túrin Turambar. The beginnings of some of Tolkien’s language development may stem from the names and epithets of the characters contained within this story. These are just some examples, and inevitably there are some that I missed as well. For the careful reader, echoes of Tolkien’s later legendarium and writings might appear around every turn of phrase.

    The essays, which make up the majority of the book, provide incredible insight into Tolkien’s development as a writer and academic. Tolkien’s essay on the Kalevala, presented here in two forms, gives its reader an insight into the sort of stories that captivated the author in his youth. Like all of Tolkien’s works, they are also beautifully written. They convey a particular enthusiasm about story and story-making that seems to carry into Tolkien’s later work. Finally, Dr. Flieger’s own essay at the end of the collection gives the reader context, connecting the various parts of the story to Tolkien’s later legendarium succinctly and interestingly. Like Tolkien’s work, her writing is also understandable, beautiful, and even funny, especially in its description of Kullervo as someone who you simply can’t take anywhere.

    The Story of Kullervo is a strange collection for a strange story. Though it has the appearance of a work of fantasy, the collection is mostly essays, and the story is both unfinished and not original. It is essentially Kalevala fanfiction, but that is not meant to discredit it. Reading the story is enjoyable, if often confusing and eventually slightly unfulfilling, as we are bereft of its conclusion. It is certainly not for everyone, even though the beautiful artwork that usually adorns its cover draws uninitiated passers-by in. However, for a reader willing to accept the story for what it is, interested in Tolkien’s engagement with some of Europe’s weirdest mythology, and prepared to read an academic essay rather than a fantasy novel, this book is indispensable.

- Clay

[skruttet]

Tove Jansson Videos!

Here’s a list of some videos on yle that feature Tove Jansson and often others; most are interviews, though there are some that aren’t. These probably aren’t all of them, and there’s also audio recordings you can find, but it’s late and I need to get up early tomorrow so I’m posting this as is lol.

Lars, Tove and Tuulikki in Japan - 15.9.1991 - Short one featuring the iconic trio!!!! Tove once again being a fashion ICON and referring to the others with their nicknames ‘Lasse’ and ‘Tooti’ :’)

Tove's brother Lars and Tuulikki Pietilä travel to Japan to see Moomin animations that have been completed. They are extremely satisfied.

Interview with Tove at Klovharun in Pellinge - 2.9.1991 - Oh this is GOOOOD! Tove is so lovely and cheerful in it (she is in them all, tbh) and we see some 90s Moomin anime character sheets!!!!

Reporter Christian Forsberg siblings Tove and Lars Jansson at Klovharun in Pellinge archipelago. They discuss the Japanese animations, why Tove thinks they are good, and what it's been like to work with them. We also hear more about the advent of Moomintroll.

The Japanese Animations - 6.9.1991 - Tove talks about her love for Snufkin in this one :D

The youth magazine X-tra also speaks with Tove Jansson. Junior reporter Nike Tallqvist interviews Tove Jansson. Tove Jansson and Sixten Lundberg, who has given Moomintroll their voice, talk about the animations. Tove Jansson is very happy and satisfied with the films. They have become good, she thinks. Especially Snufkin is nice. "I'd like to be like that," she says.

The Moomins and the Great Flood - 18.11.1991 - However, Tove Jansson is not so pleased with the new release of Småtrollen and the great flood. She thinks the book is not good.

Tove Jansson and Tuulikki Pietilä about art and life -  09.15.1991 - Tove, Tooti, and Pentti talk in this one and we see Moomin figures & tableaux.

Here, Tove Jansson and Too-ticky, Tuulikki Pietilä, are interviewed about the construction of the Moomin House. The idea came from Pentti Eistola, who built a smaller Moomin house. And from that, the idea of ​​the house grew. The gang gathered for play nights where there was carpentry, painting and sewing.

The house travelled around the world, first to a Moomin exhibition in Bratislava, to finally stay at the Moomin exhibition in the Tampere library.

Here we hear what Tuulikki likes to make herself as a doll. And why Pentti Eistola made a Moomin House.

Tove and Friends - 1970 - This is literally just a 24-minute-long video of Tove chilling with some mates including Lasse Pöysti and Birgitta Ulfsson and Erna Tauro oh my gosh!!!!

Here we visit Tove Jansson in her studio home with friends of her. Lasse Pöysti sings the Moomintroll show, Tove draws and the gang discusses.

It is a real home for reportage. From time to time, someone puts in a relevant question, and in between you talk gently, cut bread and cheese, and drink wine.

Discussions revolve around the studio home, drawing Moomin films, Moomin visors and Tove Jansson's writing.

Erna Tauro, who wrote the music for Tove Jansson's songs, talks about how it feels to compose to lyrics.

EDIT: This one also has a version with Finnish subtitles!! Here

Tove Jansson on the Moomin House - 1.9.1979 - This one has some pretty good shots of the moominhouse tableau!

With the help of friends Tuulikki Pietilä and Pentti Eistola, Tove Jansson has created a Moominhouse, a dream house that stands for everything that modern architecture does not do.

It took several years to create the perfect house. The decor is complete in every detail. In the Moomin House you can find everything needed in a house.

The Moomin House will travel to Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. Architecturally, the Moomin House is a concoction of different styles; Karelian style, baroque, empire and rococo.

Tove Jansson is happy and eager. She sees the Moomin House as a fantasy house that stands against the modern beehives where no one wants to live.

About Tove Jansson's childhood - 09.15.1991

Tove Janssons talks about her safe but bohemian childhood and how her life has become with the celebrity.

Tove Janssons' upbringing was bohemian and artistic. If mother Ham (Signe Hammarsten-Jansson) can not tell Tove Jansson, it is difficult to tell if someone you have loved so much.

But about her father (Viktor Jansson) she draws stories. He was a bohemian, with an unavoidable attraction to the bourgeois. He longed for disasters and kept them in good spirits.

You may see where the characters Moominmamma and Moominpappa and really the whole family come from.

About Tove's choice of profession and Moomin's birth - 09.15.1991

Tove Jansson talks about how the little troll was born in a comic book Garm. It was just a coincidence that she started writing children's books, maybe she longed for childhood summers.

The creatures give each other freedom. But the figures evolved. As an example, Tove Jansson takes Moominmamma who can get really angry. And Snufkin, who is totally free and alone, comes and goes as he pleases. He was Tove Jansson's idol for a long time, but he is really self-centred and spoiled. After all, it is easy to be alone and stick out in the wilderness when you are hailed and applauded when you get home. Fillyjonk, on the other hand, goes under by loneliness.

The cartoon was what took Tove Jansson's loss. It was terrible, but Too-ticky helped Tove Jansson write Moominland Midwinter. There she placed Moomintroll in a strange world. He not only experienced adventure, but also difficulties.

The Moomin World, the Celebrity and the Moomin Fan - 15.9.1991

Tove Jansson also talks about the difficulty of being known, all the fans who write and demand answers. She refers to Topelius and Astrid Lindgren who know equally.

When there is talk of all the research in Tove Jansson's books, she just gets irritated, they could wait a bit at least.

Tove Jansson Receives Award - 24.4.1987 - very cool shot of her putting on sunglasses in this lol

Tove Jansson became more and more shy over the years, but she gained recognition for her Moomin books all her life. She talks a lot about fame and trouble.

Anna Savonius wonders if the Moomin books became too narrow when Tove Jansson can no longer write about them. Tove Jansson thinks that they changed the meaning, and she went back to visual art.

And with horrible mothers she switched to short stories and novels.

Mostly she writes well for herself. But children's books need a happy ending, it may be awful, but not cruel and contain justice and honesty. However, you do not need education.

Tove Jansson Turns 80 - 8.8.1994 - from the same article as the video above.

Tove Jansson Becomes a Professor - 5.11.1995

Tove Jansson became an honorary professor and was 80 years old before she died on June 27, 2001.

Tove Jansson on working with books and visual arts - 4.6.1984

Tove Jansson talks about Summer Book and The Dangerous Journey. And about how difficult it is to write for children and for adults.

Tove Jansson has often talked about how celebrity has made it more difficult to write. And how she gets stuck and doesn't move on.

In Charlotte Aira's deep and strong interview, Tove Jansson returns to this. Writing is a heavy job, as heavy and difficult as painting.

This summer book is perhaps the book that is strongest for Tove Jansson and best describes Tove Jansson's life.

In the interview, Tove Jansson also talks about nature, the children and the Moomin role. Tove Jansson does not think she is escapist, everything is in reality.

They talk about Tove Jansson's adult books and visual arts, which journalists are not always interested in.

Tove Jansson receives the Topelius Prize - 9.28.1978

Tove Jansson received the Topelius Prize in 1978 when she published The Dangerous Journey (1977). It is Tove Jansson's last picture book about the Moomin role. Tove Jansson thinks about the dangerous journey, she thinks it may not have been so successful in terms of text, but she likes the pictures.

Tove Jansson in Naantali - 6.24.1993

Moomin mother Tove Jansson took part in a big event when Naantali Moomin World opened.

Tove Jansson thinks it is quite fun to participate when the Moomin characters come alive.

But she had never thought of such a thing when she wrote her first Moomin book.

And she knows that there will be no more Moomin books, now Tove Jansson is just trying to write short stories for adults.

A glimpse of Tove Jansson

Tove Jansson's Moomintroll spread all over the world. Today you can find everything from Moomin soaps to refrigerator magnets. Finally, Tove Jansson started hating her Moomintroll.

Here, Tove Jansson tells Chris Zitting about how fame has affected her. About how she hated to see her beloved character being commercialised and because of that, she began to lose the desire to write about Moomin.

She also talks about the inspiration to start writing more adult books.

Tove Jansson tells us that the book Moominland Midwinter (1957) was very important to her. She was stuck and couldn't write a lot more, but her life partner Tuulikki Pietilä (Too-ticky) helped her by suggesting that she place Moomintroll in a new and strange world. That helped Tove Jansson move on.

The interview was made in 1988, but was shown again after Jansson's death in 2001. The program has Finnish subtitles.

New Year’s Eve 1957 - 3.1.1957

[awkwardlyamusing-blog]

Gloucester Goings On | Community

New Post has been published on http://doggietrainingclasses.com/gloucester-goings-on-community/

Gloucester Goings On | Community

Listings may be sent to: Goings On, Gloucester Daily Times, 36 Whittemore St., Gloucester, MA 01930; or emailed to Joann Mackenzie at jomackenzie@gloucestertimes.com, at least two weeks prior to the event.

Finnish literary history on Cape Ann

On Tuesday, July 23, from 3 to 5 p.m., the Lanesville Community Center, 8 Vulcan St., will host professor Kirsti Salmi-Niklander of the University of Helsinki discussing newly-discovered materials in the Finnish-American literary history of Lanesville and Rockport, where Finns shared books, newspapers, political broadsheets, poems, and songbooks in Finnish. Salmi-Niklander’s research has uncovered the 1903-1925 issues of the hand-written newspaper Walotar, which would have been read aloud at meetings of the Salon Leimu Temperance Society in Rockport. Also found: an 1899 children’s primary reader and other books reflecting strong ties to Finland and evolving assimilation in America, including the development of “Finglish.” Those in attendance are welcome to bring similar materials they might have. Traditional afternoon coffee and Nisu will be served.

Finns Celebrate Heritage

On Sunday, July 21, at 7 p.m., guest conductor Paul Niemisto will raise his baton at the bandstand at Back Beach to lead Rockport’s community band and guest musicians in a free, outdoor program of Finnish-American music. Sure to evoke nostalgia among Cape Ann’s Finnish-Americans, the concert is a rare opportunity for this now assimilated group to unite in a demonstration of their presence on Cape Ann and to celebrate their heritage. The band pays tribute to its 32 charter members, and gives thanks to the immigrant generation. Come early with family, friends, blankets, chairs and kanteles to picnic seaside ahead of the concert. If rain, see you at Rockport High School auditorium. Questions? Call 978-546-7529, 202-420-8548 or email capeannfinns@gmail.com.

Lobster Fest

Gloucester Legion’s second lobster fest gets steaming on Saturday, July 20, from 1 to 6 p.m. at American Legion, 8 Washington St. Ticket includes one fresh cooked lobster, unlimited clam chowder, corn on the cob, salad, bread and watermelon. Legion volunteers will provide service throughout the meal, with open seating and full bar. All proceeds benefit Legion’s holiday meals programs for seniors and veterans. $25 for full dinner. For advance tickets call 978-979-2224. Walk-ins are welcome.

GHS ’49 Reunion July 25

Gloucester High School’s Class of 1949 will gather for a reunion luncheon Thursday, July 25, at 1:30 p.m. at the Gloucester House Restaurant. For more information, call Bill Reilly ASAP at 978-283-3527 or 978-290-8097.

Sargent House recreates 1919 exhibit

The Sargent House Museum’s 100th anniversary brings together more than 25 works by John Singer Sargent, Theresa Bernstein, Childe Hassam and others from Saturday, July 13, to Sunday, Sept. 1, at the historic 1782 house’s new gallery at 42 Middle St. The exhibit is a recreation of the 1919 show that launched the museum, has as its centerpiece a portrait by John Singer Sargent of his cousin Charles Sprague Sargent, the Harvard botanist who co-founded the Sargent House Museum. Period costumes will evoke the era. As part of a centenary collaboration, the Sargent House and Cape Ann museums will partner on a variety of exhibits, lectures and events, including the display at Cape Ann Museym of a large portrait of Judith Sargent Murray by John Singleton Copley, on loan from the Terra Foundation in Chicago. For more information, visit www.sargenthouse.org.

Concerts on Meetinghouse Green

The fourth season of free Friday evening concerts on Meetinghouse Green is underway. The concerts run from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on the shaded green of the historical Unitarian Universalist Church, corner of Middle and Church streets, in Gloucester. This Friday, July 12, hear classic rock ‘n’ roll from the North Shore-based band Livin’ On Luck. Bring blanket or lawn chair. The Causeway Restaurant will cater, and donations for Pathways for Children will be appreciated.

Youth Acting Workshop

Classes start Friday, July 12, at the Gloucester Stage Youth Acting Workshop. A professional theater training program for ages 5 to 18, the workshop runs Fridays, July 12 to Aug. 16, providing a chance to develop self-confidence, communication and teamwork skills for daily life as well as the theater. Workshops cover theater basics, improvisation, movement, vocal and physical expression, character preparation, scene study, storytelling, writing and public speaking. Award-winning actress Heidi Dallin teaches in collaboration with special guests. Classes are divided by age. For details, visit www.gloucesterstage.com. The Gloucester Stage Company is located at 267 E. Main St. For information/registration, call Heidi at 978-283-6688 or go to the website.

GHS Class of 1963 Reunion July 14

Gloucester High School Class of 1963 will hold its annual reunion barbecue on Sunday, July 15, at 11 a.m. at Stage Fort Park, across from the Cupboard. Bring your own food and beverage; a cook and grill will be on hand. For more details call Bob Whynott at 978-283-8230 or Rick Gonsalves at 351-444-8506.

GHS ’74 Reunion Aug. 10

Gloucester High School Class of 1974 will hold its 45th reunion on Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Gloucester House Restaurant, 6 to 11 p.m. with cocktail hour, dinner buffet, and DJ Leo Francis. $45 per person. If you or someone you know has not received notice, or have questions, contact Cyndi Bolcome at macybo@comcast.net or 978-546-3961. Checks are made payable to GHS Class of 74 and mailed to Class of ’74, 7 Highview Road, Rockport, MA 01966.

GHS Class of ’59 Reunion

Gloucester High School Class of 1959 will hold its 60th reunion on July 27 at the Gloucester House Restaurant, from 4:40 to 8:30 p.m. with cocktail hour, dinner buffet and a DJ. Mailings have been sent out, but only some have been returned. If you did not receive a mailing or know someone out of the area who would like to have the information, contact Gerri Kippen at gkipper412@gmail.com or 978-491-1781; or Id Doane at idafdoane@gmail.com or 508-878-5832.

Solo shows at North Shore Arts

The North Shore Arts Association is presenting two new solo shows by Faripour Forouhar of Avon, Connecticut, and Helene Pierce of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. On display are more than 20 works by Forouhar in oil and more than 20 works by Pierce in watercolor. The shows, which run through July 8, are on view, are free and open to the public, at the NSAA galleries, 11 Pirates Lane, Gloucester. For more information, call 978-283-1857 or visit www.nsarts.org.

’39 Steps’ at Gloucester Stage

Patrick Barlow’s witty mystery “The 39 Steps” will be on stage through July 28 at Gloucester Stage Company, 267 E. Main St., Gloucester. This award-winning comic thriller adapted from the 1915 novel by John Buchan and the 1935 movie by Alfred Hitchcock, has played in more than 40 countries, winning Olivier (United Kingdom); Helpmann (Australia); Moliere (France) and Tony Awards. Gloucester Stage Artistic Director Robert Walsh directs this adaptation, in a production running Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Single tickets are $15 to $48 with discounts available for preview performances, senior citizens, military families, and college students and those under 18 years of age. For ticket information, visit www.gloucesterstage.com. On Saturday, July 6, the 2 p.m. show is “Pay As You Wish” for access to the arts for all. For more information, call 978-281-4433 or visit www.gloucesterstage.com.

Page2Stage

Page2Stage, a new collaboration between the Sawyer Free Library and the Gloucester Stage Theatre, is Thursday, July 11. The group will meet for the first time pre-show at 5:45 p.m. at the Gloucester Stage Theatre to discuss “The 39 Steps” by John Buchan. In this pre-show discussion of theater performances, participants explore the play’s subject through facilitated discussion of related content, including biographies and novels. The program is free and offers discounted $25 tickets for registered members. Registration is required at www.sawyerfreelibrary.org. The next program is Thursday, Aug. 8, and includes readings from Ben Butler’s autobiography and a presentation of Ben Butler. All books will be available at the library. For members’ discounted tickets, call 978-281-4433.

Aquarium summer passes

The Sawyer Free Library has received summer passes for the New England Aquarium, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Generally, the library only offers passes from September to June. But these special summer passes, which allows for a 50% discount on admission, are dated for the months of July and August. The passes and can be found on the “Reserve a Pass” link on the library’s website.

Welcoming Center volunteers

Love Gloucester? The Stage Fort Park Welcoming Center is looking for people who know the city and want to welcome the world to it. It’s more fun than work. Those who can give three hours per week, Friday-Sunday, now through Columbus Day, should contact Carol Mondello 978-281-8865 or cmondello@gloucester-ma.gov.

A ‘life in pieces’

The Cape Ann Museum presents “My Life in Pieces: Painting with Stuff,” the first public exhibition of Rockport mixed media artist Stephanie Cole’s sculptural and eclectic collection. A Connecticut native, Cole studied at California College of Arts and Crafts and later at the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford. In the mid-1960s, she and her husband settled in Rockport where Cole taught art in the Rockport Elementary School and her work evolved into intricate multimedia mosaics she called “memory sculptures.” The works are on view through July 7.

Bingo

Holy Family Parish invites those ages 18 or older to Friday night Bingo in the lower church hall of St. Ann’s, 74 Pleasant St. Five different types of pull tab tickets. All paper books and ink markers are available for sale at the game. For more information, call 978-281-4720.

Archive access

Sawyer Free Library’s local history Librarian, Jackie, will help you find out what the local history and archive collection contains. Some of it is online, on the library website. If you’re curious, ask for Jackie when you stop into the library, 2 Dale Ave., main desk.

Dog license renewal

Dog license renewal forms are enclosed in the census mailing for dog owners’ convenience. Residents are encouraged to license dogs online at www.gloucester-ma.gov. Mail in registration and in office registration is also available.

Pet adoptions

Cape Ann Animal Aid at 4 Paws Lane, located off Route 133 near the junction with Route 128, has dogs and cats available for adoption. Some dogs may have a reduced adoption fee and there is no adoption fee for cats 6 years or older. Photos, hours and adoption fees are posted on the shelter’s website, www.CapeAnnAnimalAid.org, or call 978-283-6055 for information.

Cape Ann Referral Group

The Cape Ann Referral Group, a membership of local business networking and referrals, meets every other Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. at the Masonic Building on Eastern Avenue. Visit www.CapeAnnBiz.com.

Insurance help

Financial councilors are available at Addison Gilbert Hospital, 298 Washington St., to assist you in accessing health insurance: MassHealth, Commonwealth Care, Commonwealth Choice, Medicare, Medicaid and other health insurance issues. Visit the hospital’s Financial Service Department, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Adult Education

Action Inc.’s Adult Education classes are offered in the evenings on Mondays and Wednesdays or Tuesdays and Thursdays, depending on learning level. Classes take place at Action Inc.’s Timothy L. Riley Education Center at 5 Pleasant St. in Gloucester. Classes include reading, writing, math, work skills and referrals to support services as needed. Classes help students prepare for their high school equivalency test (formerly GED). For more information, visit www.actioninc.org or 978-282-1000.

Babson Library

Isabel Babson Memorial Library, 69 Main St., is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Named for Gloucester’s first midwife, the library’s books feature all aspects of family life including maternity, child care and women’s health. The collection is updated monthly. All are welcome to browse. Call 978-283-5624.

Legion Post

The Capt. Lester S. Wass American Legion Post 3 opens its smoke-free lounge for members and guests, Monday through Friday, at 3 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday at noon; and during many holidays. The upstairs hall may be rented for special events. Call 978-283-9710 after 3 p.m.

Notary services

Free notary services for seniors are available at the Rose Baker Senior Center. For an appointment, call 978-281-9765.

Cape Ann Special Olympics

Cape Ann Special Olympics provides athletic opportunities for individuals with intellectual or physical disabilities. The goal is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition at no cost to these individuals. Program currently offers bowling and basketball on Saturdays. Bowling is at 11 a.m. at Cape Ann Lanes, and basketball is at 4 p.m. at the Cape Ann YMCA. All special needs athletes are welcome. Email Shawn Williamson at williamsonshawn@yahoo.com or visit www.facebook.com/GloucesterSpecialOlympics.

DAV meetings

Cape Ann’s Disabled American Veterans, Chapter 74, meets on the third Tuesday of each month, 6:30 p.m., at the Veterans Center. All members and perspective members are encouraged to attend.

CAST scholarship

Cape Ann Shakespeare Troupe will award a $500 scholarship to a senior studying at one of Cape Ann’s secondary schools, or one who has worked with a CAST production, who plans to continue studying performing arts. CAST has been awarding this scholarship for several years. For more information or an application, email Ray Jenness at kjenness045@netzero.net.

Gloucester400 design competition

Organizers of Gloucester’s 400th anniversary celebration are holding an international commemorative medal design competition open to amateur and professional designers. Commemorative medals are a time-honored part of Gloucester’s historic celebrations. The competition is accepting entries for Phase I. Designers must upload their original sketches to GloucesterMA400.com by Aug. 31, after which three semifinalists will be selected and receive a cash award of $3,000. In Phase II, the semifinalists’ designs, submitted as three-dimensional plaster models, closes on Dec. 1. The final winner will be announced in February 2020. The winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000 and his or her initials will appear on the final medal. See complete guidelines at www.GloucesterMA400.com.

Lanesville Al-Anon

Al-Anon support group, based on 12 Step Program, meets Sundays, 7:15 to 8:15 p.m., at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 1123 Washington St., Lanesville. Al-Anon is anonymous and free. Group welcomes people dealing with difficult and challenging alcoholic relationships. Call 978-546-6698.

Health care help

PACE at Element Care in Gloucester has openings for patients. The nonprofit health care organization and primary care doctors office specializes in taking care of elders age 55 and over who are either on disability or have medical conditions. For those on MassHealth, PACE can help cover health care expenses, medical needs, home care, transportation, medication and more. Call 877-803-5564 or stop in for a tour at 29A Emerson Ave. (across the street from The Open Door) and ask for Carol Pallazolla. Visit www.elementcare.org.

Veterans counseling

Many veterans experience difficulty in adjusting to problems in civilian life after serving in combat. The Lowell Vet Center offers counseling at the Gloucester Veterans Center for area veterans and their families, free of charge. For an appointment, call the Gloucester Office of Veterans’ Services at 978-281-9740.

Handy Sewing Lady

The Council on Aging Handy Sewing Lady is at the Rose Baker Senior Center on Mondays, from 10 a.m. to noon. Items needing repairs may also be left at the reception desk, along with your name, phone number and a description of the work needed.

Senior Scrabble

A group of seniors meets to play Scrabble on Tuesdays, 12:30 p.m., at the Rose Baker Senior Center. New members are welcome. Call 978-281-9765.

Free educational classes

Never finished high school? Have trouble with math or writing? Give yourself the gift of a free education with free classes at the Adult Learning Center at North Shore Community College. To apply, contact Erin O’Brien at 978-236-1226 or email eobrien08@northshore.edu. Onsite classes are available on the Danvers campus, or study from home in the online Distance Learning program. If you are interested in distance learning, contact Zoe Fogarty at zfogarty01@northshore.edu.

Community socials

The Lanesville Community Center, 8 Vulcan St., has launched monthly senior socials for the community, open to all on the first Friday of the month from 1 to 3 p.m., with games, knitting, hand work, chatting, lots of laughs and games (bring your own to share). Coffee and tea will be provided, but bring something yummy. Door prizes a bonus. Any questions or comments, contact Cheryl Davis at cdavis_62@hotmail.com or visit the Lanesville Community Center website.

Manship Ribbon Cutting and Tour

On Wednesday, July 10, at 6:30 p.m., join city and state dignitaries as Manship Artists Residency (MARS) celebrates the opening of its international, interdisciplinary artists’ residency in Lanesville. Then, on July 28 from 3 to 5 p.m., in conjunction with the Cape Ann Museum, join Rebecca Reynolds, curator and art consultant specializing in American sculpture and president of the MARS board of directors, on an intimate tour of the private home and grounds of sculptor Paul Manship, now the Manship Artists Residency & Studios in Lanesville. Light refreshments will be served. $10 CAM members; $20 nonmembers. Reservations required through Eventbrite. Address will be disclosed after RSVP to info@ManshipArtists.org or call 978-290-8438.

Source link Dog Training Information

[thisiswhatidoonfridaynights]

TOVE JANSSON

On the first weekend of November I visited my family in London. During my stay I went to see the Tove Jansson exhibition that was on at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. It was a lovely exhibition that told me more about the author and artist, whom I have admired since my childhood. Inspired by this experience, today I am writing about Tove Jansson (1914 – 2001) – a Finnish painter, illustrator, and novelist.

Tove Jansson is probably best known as the creator of the Moomins – a series of children’s books, which was later on adapted as a Japanese cartoon. “The Moomins and the Great Flood” was the first book in the series, published in 1945. The series consists of 9 novels and 5 picture books. The story focuses on the Moomin family, who are white, round, friendly troll-like creatures, living in the fantasy world of Moominvalley. The stories are touching and bring joy to children and their parents alike.

Jansson’s illustrations are made unique because of the tiny, intricate details that create an image. Her play with short black lines results in images that look like they could start moving at any moment. I admire the way Jansson expresses light and shade and creates very atmospheric images that peak one’s curiosity and spark the imagination. Another aspect I wish to learn from Tove Jansson, is her ability to choose an interesting angle and scale for an image: sometimes the image focuses on landscape with the characters becoming almost tiny dots, while other times the characters are the main figures and the surroundings work as a frame for them. As well as her own books, Tove Jansson illustrated Swedish translations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and Lewis Carroll’s “The Hunting of the Snark” and “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”.

Before seeing the exhibition, I was not aware that Tove Jansson was also a painter. Her style progressed from an impressionist one in her youth, to a modern and abstract one. I was struck by her incredible use of colour and the ability to perfectly convey a certain mood and create tension in her paintings. Even though, Jansson’s earlier paintings were criticised for having too much detail in them, I think it makes them very charming. However, that may just be my perspective as an Illustration student.

Overall, Tove Jansson has definitely had an impact on my creative journey and I am thrilled that I had the opportunity to be inspired by her all over again. I highly recommend reading her books, and, if possible, seeing the exhibition, which is on until the 28th of January, 2018.

[hermanwatts]

(Today’s column is a reprint of Kevyn Winkless’s excellent and heart-felt introduction to German science-fiction hero Perry Rhodan, originally posted on the Castalia House blog on 17 August, 2017. Kevyn ended his heart-felt appreciation for the run of Perry Rhodan published in English during the 1970s with “by all reports, the modern Rhodan is rich and fairly sophisticated space opera.” Next week, we shall see for ourselves in a review of ARK OF THE STARS, by Frank Borsch, the first book in the Perry Rhodan: Lemuria miniseries.)

You know The Shadow. You may know The Spider. You definitely know Conan. And after this year’s cinematic offering you also know Valerian, even if you’re not familiar with the original comics.

But are these really the most beloved SFF heroes in print? Really?

Yes, they are definitely at the top – and a convincing case can be made for Conan in particular as a global phenomenon with incredible staying power. But let me introduce you to another hero who is sadly little known in the English-speaking world: Perry Rhodan.

I stumbled on Perry Rhodan the summer we moved to a tiny town of under 500 people when I was in high school.

The nearest book store with anything like a SFF section was 100km away and the local shops’ spinners were loaded down with romance novels and basically nothing else. The library’s collection of SFF fare spanned a set of five spinners off in the back. I was frustrated at the time, but in retrospect in that age long before Amazon and before I had the financial wherewithal to participate in things like the Science Fiction Book Club[1] the fact that such a small town had a library at all was good fortune at its finest.

Needless to say I consumed that pitiful collection of SFF paperbacks in record time, and as a result was introduced to a variety of classic authors I might never have noticed otherwise[2]. I’m sure that experience deeply influences my reading and writing habits today.

To be honest, though, I have only the vaguest memories of what exactly was on those spinners. Oh, I know I first encountered James Blish and Andre Norton and Lin Carter and  van Voght here but other than Blish’s print adaptations of Star Trek episodes[3] I couldn’t tell you what titles were actually there. Except one:

Perry Rhodan.

Perry Rhodan was first published in German in 1961 in a Romanhefte format – this is a slim, pocket sized format analogous to the digest pulps popular in the US at the time[4], popular for “disposable fiction” of all kinds. And disposable is what the Rhodan series was initially intended to be:

At the start, it was to be a limited run of a few dozen weekly issues of novella length, but it was quickly obvious that the initial authors K. H. Scheer and Walter Ernsting  were on to something big, and the series was continued. The publishers are no doubt very happy they decided to see just where Perry Rhodan would go because as of today there are more than 2,900 issues in the continuous main series, more than 850 issues of the Atlan spin-off series featuring many of the same characters, and a multitude of subsidiary products including comic strips, and merchandise. The series has been so popular that it has reportedly sold more than a billion copies just in its native German, with another billion in various foreign language translations.

It was of course the English translation I found[5] – organized by Forrest Ackerman of fandom fame in the mid-60s, and resulting in Ace publication starting in 1968. This English translation and adaptation[6] unfortunately was ill-fated:

Despite being well-received by readers and eventually being popular enough to justify producing three issues per month, Ace decided to end the run in 1977 – with just a few missing pieces sputtering out until the end of 1978. Demand was high enough, though, for Wendayne Ackerman to publish another 19 issues under her own imprint, Master Publications. These were distributed only to subscribers, however, so the majority of the Rhodan reading public in the English speaking world were left with nothing but the 124 issues Ace had given them.

This, frankly, is a crying shame. Quite apart from the amazing popularity Rhodan continues to enjoy in Germany and around the world in several languages[7] the story itself is fascinating.

I can hardly call myself an expert – I came on these books years after the English translations had ceased publication[8] and have had to make do with the occasional issues I’ve stumbled on since those first three in that tiny small-town library so many years ago. But I have managed to track down more than half of the original translations over the years, and can piece together what is obviously a remarkable set of storylines.

The premise itself is nothing remarkable to us in the modern SFF scene – just the standards:

space mission stumbles on a crashed alien spacecraft on the moon and discovers mind-blowingly advanced technology

ancient space empire is decadent and crumbling

multiple “rabid” species, less advanced, are worrying at the edges and threaten to destroy everything the peaceful space empire has built up

decadent space empire gives their technology to humanity as the last great hope when they demonstrate their ability to unify under threat

You know: the usual.

But what makes this series so remarkable – at least in the portion I have read – is the seamless way the arcs link together. This is no mean feat for this style of serial, keeping things coherent and flowing despite the hands of multiple writers pushing the cart. The continuing success of the series is a testament to the skill with which the publishers have managed their stable of contributors and curated their “bible” for the series.

Also interesting is the way the story, despite being explicitly high tech space opera, effortlessly weaves in metaphysics and curious references to occult esoterica. I suppose to some extent this sort of thing is to be expected in a space opera setting that invokes the psionics trope, but the number of alchemical and other hermetic symbols that get deployed is truly fascinating – and links perfectly with the setting’s conceit that there really are “layers of being” that species transition through on their way to perfect unity with the universe.

So why is a series that is so influential and has such a devoted following completely invisible in English?

Part of the problem is that the US market was only ever exposed to the opening chapters of the story, which are generally considered fairly simple, straightforward space opera. Many critics of the time panned it as being too simplistic, with empty characters and relying heavily on tropes of human expansion that many felt were best left back in the 50s.

The basic criticisms are probably fair – the opening chapters are full speed ahead space opera, with thrilling space battles and fairly stereotypical characters  who are motivated in direct ways – and while some of the issues in the early books are surely caused by rapid translation you can definitely tell these were throw-away space adventures aimed at a younger audience.

But it’s hard to see why Ace would choose to discontinue a series that was, by all reports, profitable just because it wasn’t as sophisticated as the books the reviews columns were gushing over, especially when the translations had just started moving into the far more sophisticated storylines being developed by William Voltz in the Atlan spin-off – and which he brought back to the main line when he took over as master storyline planner in 1975, slowly developing the series to aim for a more discerning older audience. Not to mention the fact that they killed the series right when space opera was enjoying a comeback via Star Wars.[9]

The only explanation I can think of is the self-consciousness of English genre fiction that grew through the 60s and into the 70s – a looming hunger to be taken seriously, to be viewed as literary equals in an increasingly consolidated market.  In this environment it’s easy to see the pressure Jim Baen (who was SF editor at the time) and Tom Doherty (publisher) might have been under to reframe Ace’s SF offerings to a more “high-brow” focus.

But this concern for respectability is a great loss – by all reports, the modern Rhodan is rich and fairly sophisticated space opera, and it seems to me that the English SFF landscape is poorer for having sneered this series off stage back in 1978.

[1] SFBC has changed since I was a member – it doesn’t look anywhere near as appealing now as it once did, but in those days I discovered real greats through their catalog, and several of my favourite authors I learned to love because of one of their editions.

[2] Mainly because at that point they were increasingly out of print.

[3] Co-written with his wife, Judith, under the pen-name J. A. Lawrence as short story collections between 1967 and 1978, these little pocket books by Bantam were sometimes better than the TOS episodes they were based on and I consumed them hungrily.

[4] Though actually literally the German market equivalent of the dime novel.

[5] I have assayed original German issues on a couple of occasions, but sadly my German is just not up to it – though it might have been if I’d been lucky enough to discover Rhodan when I was 13 or 14.

[6] Ackerman and his wife, Wendayne – who did most of the translation – repackaged the originals by combining issues and reformatting the English issue layouts something like the pulps they remembered from their youth.

[7] Currently: a Portuguese translation available in Brazil, and translations into Russian, Chinese, Japanese, French, Czech, and Dutch – Italian and Finnish translations seem to have sputtered out. There was also a short-lived pirate version in Hebrew!

[8] And long before the two reboot efforts in the 1990s and 2006.

[9] And in fact, Lucas has mentioned Rhodan as an influence – less than Flash Gordon, but big enough to shape the design of some of the space ships.

published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[aion-rsa]

J.R.R. Tolkien Biopic Release Date, Cast and Everything to Know

http://bit.ly/2Df14e7

Nicholas Hoult stars in Tolkien, a biopic focusing on the celebrated author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

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Joseph Baxter

Jan 17, 2019

J.R.R. Tolkien

The Hobbit

The Lord Of The Rings

Nicholas Hoult

The major works of John Ronald Reuel (J.R.R.) Tolkien were adapted in an epic manner in contemporary film by director Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and, years later, in The Hobbit Trilogy, with grandiose (allegedly exorbitant) television series plans in the works over at Amazon Studios. Yet, an upcoming biopic will cover another story connected to the influential author, namely his own life story.

While the biopic, titled Tolkien, stayed in the pipeline for a few years, things finally came together with director Dome Karukoski, who helmed this movie about the mind that made Middle Earth, which is headlined by Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins.

Tolkien Release Date

Tolkien has ventured there and back again to finally set its release date for May 10.

Tolkien Story

Tolkien explores the circumstances that shaped Tolkien into becoming the author of the world's most famous fantasy novels. The film will show how the marriage of young Tolkien to Edith Bratt was interrupted in 1914 by World War I. After deliberation, Tolkien enlisted, experiencing four years of the world-altering global conflagration. The experiences would become the inspiration for Tolkien’s conception of 1937’s The Hobbit; a mythology he would expand exponentially with 1954-1955’s The Lord of the Rings novel trilogy, along with several supplemental Middle-earth-based stories, many of which would be published posthumously under the editorial stewardship of his son Christopher.

Tolkien certainly has compelling source material to utilize in telling the iconic author's story, which was wrought in not only war, but a quirky romance. Moreover, it will be interesting for fans, both casual and passionate, to witness the events that drove a certain young second lieutenant in the British Army to conjure the magical, ethereal, quasi-medieval world of Middle-earth and weave the intricate details of its sprawling mythology.

Tolkien Cast

Nicholas Hoult took the biopic's title role as one the 20th century's most celebrated authors, J.R.R. Tolkien. While Hoult has become a perennial blockbuster actor, playing Hank McCoy/Beast in the current X-Men films and was a catchphrase-coining standout in 2015’s apocalyptic franchise revival Mad Max: Fury Road, this prospective role in Tolkien won’t even be his first experience playing a famous author, having played the role of the reclusive J.D. Salinger in September’s Rebel in the Rye. While he fielded an uncredited role reprisal as Beast in Deadpool 2 last year, he'll be back properly in X-Men: Dark Phoenix, which is set for June.

Lily Collins will play Edith Bratt, the love of Tolkien's life. She was a central figure in his life during the horrors of the First World War and would eventually become his wife, who in turn inspired Tolkien to create the graceful elvin characters of Middle-earth, including Arwen, the character played by Liv Tyler in Peter Jackson's adaptation of Lord of the Rings.

Colm Meaney plays a crucial figure in the life of J.R.R. in Father Francis Xavier Morgan. An overseer of the Birmingham Oratory, Morgan was frequently cited in Tolkien’s memoirs as a profoundly influential figure in his life, specifically when it came to charity and forgiveness amidst the darkest of circumstances; themes that are reflected in his Middle Earth novels.

Meaney, a veteran Irish actor, has seen and done it all on the screen and stage. Yet, he is best known to genre fans from the Star Trek television franchise as (transporter) Chief Miles O’Brien, first recurring on Star Trek: The Next Generation (starting in the pilot,) and later crossing over to the main cast of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; a role that, astoundingly, lasted 12 years (1987-1999,) uninterrupted. He recently appeared on TNT’s young Shakespeare series, Will, as impresario James Burbage. He also fielded a lengthy, fact-based, 2011-2016 run as the shady, yet enigmatic railroad entrepreneur, Thomas Durant, on AMC's Hell on Wheels.

Craig Roberts plays a character named Sam, a close friend of J.R.R.’s who served with the would-be Middle Earth-maker during the horrific, trench-trapped experiences of World War I. Of course, the name Sam will certainly raise flags for fans of Tolkien’s work, since, by no coincidence, it is the shortened name of Frodo’s unflinchingly loyal companion, Samwise Gamgee, in The Lord of the Rings, a character portrayed in director Peter Jackson's film trilogy to iconic, pathos-packed perfection by Sean Astin.

Roberts, a Welsh actor, is coming off a recently-completed run on the Amazon comedy series Red Oaks, with appearances in films such as The Fundamentals of Caring, 22 Jump Street, Neighbors, Submarine and The First Time. Interestingly, Tolkien will facilitate an onscreen reunion, since Roberts appeared opposite star Nicholas Hoult in the 2015 musical comedy film Kill Your Friends.

Tolkien Crew

Dome Karukoski will direct Tolkien, working off a script by David Gleeson (The Front Line, Cowboys & Angels) and actor-turned-writer Stephen Beresford (Pride). The Finnish director Karukoski is known for films from his home country such as 2017’s Tom of Finland, 2014’s The Grump and 2010’s Lapland Odyssey. With that creative crew set into place, casting for Tolkien is reportedly starting under the auspices of production company Chernin Entertainment at the behest of Fox Searchlight.

This, coupled with the rumblings about prospective star Nicholas Hoult was the first major movement on the J.R.R. Tolkien biopic endeavor since last fall, when the same trade reported that the project – then-titled Middle Earth – had tapped James Strong (Broadchurch, Downton Abbey) to direct, working off a script by a burgeoning screenwriter Angus Fletcher. However, the premise of the project in its current form as Tolkien seems to be the same, chronicling the author’s youthful experiences in which friendships, love, and an outcast status at school all lead to the horrors of the trenches in the First World War.

Joseph Baxter is a contributor for Den of Geek and Syfy Wire. You can find his work here. Follow him on Twitter @josbaxter.

from Books http://bit.ly/2TWfZzG