You probably know that one of my very favourite authors is Tove Jansson – but I didn’t know very much about her beyond what she’d put of herself in her fiction. So I was thrilled to learn that a biography of her was going to be published by Sort Of Books – indeed, translated (by Silvester Mazzarella) as, unbeknown to me, it was actually published in 2007.
And you guessed it – I’m pointing you towards my Shiny New Books review of Boel Westin’s biography of Tove Jansson! Not only that, though – Silvester Mazzarella very kindly agreed to write a brilliant piece about translating the book. It’s a long and interesting book that I don’t feel I entirely did justice to in my review, written when cold-ridden, but I always think it’s difficult to write properly about a biography – because, almost by definition, they have so much, and so much variety, in them.
Here's a question for you that, bizarrely, came up at work today during a discussion of Scandinavian authors (see, financial services isn't as illiterate as other may think!): how do you pronounce Tove?
Tove Jansson was a Swedish-speaking Finn – Swedish pronunciation is more or less too-veh with a short e on the end (as in end). Finnish o is different, so it is closer to toe-veh. Empasis on the first syllable in both cases.
I *will* read some Tove soon – promise!
Looks fascinating!
I'm reading The True Deceiver and then want to read her autobiography The Sculptor's Daughter. Love her books. #TOVE100