Echoes of Cosmic EventsActa and Baltica Global Historiae Politics in et Moominvalley: Philosophiae ScientiarumCosmic and Astronomical Sources of Incitement in Tove Jansson’sVol. Comet4, No. 1in (Spring Moominland 2016) DOI : 10.11590/abhps.2016.1.02 Echoes of Cosmic Events and Global Politics in Moominvalley: Cosmic and Astronomical Sources of Incitement in Tove Jansson’s Comet in Moominland1 Tapio Markkanen University of Helsinki Private address: Haltijatontuntie 4A, Espoo 02200, Finland E-mail:
[email protected] Abstract: Tove Jansson is known worldwide as the mother of the Moomins. She was a visual artist and writer. The first Moomin books deal with the threat of apocalypse. The 1946 book about the comet approaching the Earth is interesting because of the changes Jansson made in the later versions (1956 and 1968). The first edition is shown to reflect the fear of possible Soviet occupation of Finland after World War II. In the last, 1968 edition this was replaced by a fear of a global nuclear war. In her illustrations and texts, Jansson drew inspiration from several scientific sources, many of which are identified in the article. The case of a meteorite falling in Finland in 1899 is also discussed. Keywords: apocalypse, Moomins, science inspiring arts, scientific instruments, Tove Jansson Tove Jansson, the artist Tove Jansson (1914–2001) is known worldwide as the mother of the Moomins. Outside her home country Finland it is less known that she was an exceptionally versatile artist. She was a painter, graphic artist and illustrator. She made cartoons, wrote novels, short stories, poems, plays and cabarets, children’s books, etc.