Here Moominpappa gets the chance to tell with his own words about his younger years. A dismal childhood in an orphanage and the feeling of not being loved or appreciated changes into great adventures with Hodgkins and his ship. Moominpappa's narrative voice is pompous and self-centered but not the least bit annoying. The satirizing of the memoir genre gives a special air to the whole book.Several of my favourite scenes from the tv-series are included: a female Hemulen gets rescued from Groke and tries to push her educational values on the ship's bohemian coffee-drinking crew, the deep sea dive with all the mysterious fish with lamps, and the slightly inept Island Ghost.Two characters have been more hazy to me until now. Joxter is very similar to Snufkin, only a bit more lazy. Snufkin seems to have inherited all his good qualities: criticism towards excessive rules, drifting, and enjoying life. Mymble is busy popping out new kids every once in a while and seems to be very liberal in her parenting (reading scary stories to her brood at night and merely laughing at their shenanigans), not to mention the affair with Joxter. Good for you, Mymble, although I'm not sure Joxter is a very suitable father.There's of course the one thread throughout which gives this a more serious undertone. After gaining his independence Moominpappa constantly struggles between the need of having his own family and the need for adventure. There's a beautiful and poignant passage at the end where Moominpappa muses that friends are starting families or gaining a new position in the world. They begin to be scared of the rain while he is becoming increasingly lonely.Although it becomes evident later on that despite of settling down Moominpappa never abandons the possibility to go on an adventure, and learns to balance his needs with domesticity, the conflict between the two opposite desires (along with the feeling of disappointment of never achieving enough) takes the book into darker waters and paves the road to later themes."I cannot stress enough the perils of your friends marrying or becoming court inventors. One day you are all a society of outlaws, adventurous comrades and companions who will be pushing off somewhere or other when things become tiresome; you have all the world to choose from, just by looking at the map… And then, suddenly, they’re not interested any more. They want to keep warm. They’re afraid of rain. They start collecting big things that can’t fit in a rucksack. They talk only of small things. They don’t like to make sudden decisions and do something contrariwise. Formerly they hoisted sail; now they carpenter little shelves for porcelain mugs.""'Well,' said Hodgkins, 'perhaps he really is interested in everything, only he doesn't overdo it. For ourselves there is always one single interest. You want to become. I want to do. My nephew wants to have. But the Joxter just lives.''Simply lives,' I said. 'Anybody can do that.''Mphm,' Hodgkins said."
Чем дольше читаю книжки про Муми-троллей, тем больше убеждаюсь в их недетскости. Вот, например, прекрасная цитата. "Не могу описать, как это скверно, когда твои друзья либо женятся, либо становятся королевскими изобретателями. Сегодня ты принадлежишь беспечной компании любителей приключений, готовых отправиться в путь, как только им наскучит оставаться на одном месте. Отправляйся, куда только захочешь, перед тобой карта всего мира... и вдруг путешествия перестают их интересовать. Им хочется жить в тепле. Они боятся дождя. Они начинают собирать вещи, которые никуда не поместить. Они говорят только о разных пустяках. Ни на что серьезное они уже решиться не могут. Раньше они прилаживали парус, а теперь строгают полочки для фарфоровых безделушек. Ах, кто может говорить об этом без слез!"
What do You think about Moominpappa's Memoirs (1994)?
This is one of my all time favourite books. This is the edition I read as a child whilst swinging in a hammock on summer holidays at our farm. It was the first Moomin book I had read, although it is not the first in the sequence. I'm so grateful to have been introduced to the work of the stellar Tove Jansson as a child, because her work for children and adults has given me immense pleasure over the years. She was outstanding as an artist as well as a writer. Most of all she inspires me still with the wisdom and perceptiveness she shows through her quirky characters and their experiences of life, politics, culture, nature and relationships. The underlying message in all of the work I have read by Jansson is to live life to the full and love it, despite its complexity, irrationality, troublesomeness and scary bits! Oh, and family and hospitality are strong themes too. The impression I get, is that if I'd turned up on Jansson's doorstep one evening, with no luggage and wearing nothing but a ragged fancy dress costume and carrying a dead mouse, she would have welcomed me in and made a bed for me on the sofa, and probably pancakes the next morning (at whatever time I arose.) She would also have helped with a suitable funeral for the mouse: flower garlands, morning tea and possibly a poem.
—Judy
Es to esmu teikusi un atkārtošu vēlreiz - Mumintētis ir viens lieliski iedomīgs tēls. Viņa lielībai nav robežu, viņš ir pilnīgs bērns, kas pārņemts ar savu brīnišķīgumu un aizraujošo dzīvi. Man ļoti žēl, ka memuāros nav iekļauts viss stāsts, piemēram, tas, par ko viņš patiesi kaunās - ceļojums kopā ar baltajiem zalkšiem. Bet līdz tam mēs tiksim. Par muminiem!Citāti:Vispār man nepatīk sacensības, jo es drausmīgi apjūku, ja neuzvaru.***Bet savā ziņā es nolēmu, ka šīs jaunās jūtas ir ļoti interesantas, un nojautu, ka, lai vai kā, bet tām ir sakars ar apdāvinātību. Es manīju, ka, ļaujot sev kļūt pietiekami naktsmelnam, ļaujot nopūsties un blenzt pār jūru, sajūta bija gandrīz patīkama. Bija tik šausmīgi žēl sevis. Aizraujošs piedzīvojums.***Tagad, pēc gadiem, es apšaubu, vai patiešām biju nobijies, iespējams, es tikai ieskatīju, ka ir jāievēro jebkura piesardzība. Tāpēc es apņēmīgi palīdu zem gultas un gaidīju.
—Lote L.
In this installment of the Moomin series we follow the story of Moominpappa's youth. Moominpappa is embarrassingly convinced of his self-importance but is still a lovable character. Hodgkins, the Muddler and Joxter are all as different from each other as they are from Moominpappa and this creates a wonderful cast of characters. Moominpappa is very ambitious and wants to become a famous adventurer. He does not understand the Joxter who is happy just being. This conversation between Moominpappa and Hodgkins illustrates the different attitudes to life:"Well," said Hodgkins, "perhaps he really is interested in everything, only he doesn't overdo it. For ourselves there is always one single interest. You want to become. I want to do. My nephew wants to have. But the Joxter just lives.""Simply lives," I said. "Anybody can do that.""Mphm," Hodgkins said.Perhaps simply living is the most difficult of all...?
—Matilda
