1 The Eden of Dreams and the Nonsense Land 2 The Eden of Dreams and the Nonsense Land. Characteristics of the British Golden Age Children’s Fiction in the Finnish Children’s Fantasy Literature of the 1950s. Mirva Saukkola 3 Foreword This dissertation tells about the journey fantasy literature made from Victorian Britain to a Finland, profoundly changed by the Second World War. It is loosely based on part of the licentiate work I completed almost five years ago. Much has since changed. When I started, I was simply fascinated by the enchanted worlds I was able to visit by reading fantasy literature. Later on, I was impressed by how children's literature is linked in so many ways to the society in which it is created. During the years spent writing this thesis, I found texts which I would have otherwise never come across, as well as being able to return to the stories I had greatly enjoyed as a very young reader. In many ways, this process was an adventure during which I found I was not only a researcher of literature, but also I remembered the experiences I went through as a child reader. I hope my thesis will raise the interest in children's literature and help grown- ups, in addition to children, to enjoy it. In this process - or my literary adventure - I had many guides and helpers, whom I wish to thank warmly. The supervisor of my thesis, Professor H. K. Riikonen has guided me during the entire process. I wish to address my most grateful thanks to him for his valuable advice. I also want to thank Professor Monique Chassagnol and Professor Liisi Huhtala for their comments, which have led my work in the right direction. Professor Maija Lehtonen gave me several important comments about my licentiate disseratation and they, too, have helped me forward in this research process. I am also greatly indebted to Mr. Roderick Dixon for his skilful and patient correction of my English. The Emil Aaltonen Foundation and the Helsingin Sanomat Jubilee Foundation have financially supported my work and thus enabled the completion of this thesis. Their support solved many everyday problems and encouraged me to continue my work. Last but not least, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to my family and friends, who have supported and inspired me through our conversations. I am grateful to my parents, Sinikka and Risto Saukkola, who introduced me to fantasy literature, when I was very young, and 4 to my sister Heidi Saukkola-Suomi and brother Ismo Saukkola, who shared those reading experiences with me. Special thanks belong to my beloved, Hannu Tikka, who gave me his full support in both the sunny and the rainy days. Helsinki, March 2001, Mirva Saukkola 5 Contents Introduction 7 1. The Roots of Fantasy Fiction 1.1. Oral Folk Tale and Its Written Forms 17 1.2. Volksmärchen and Kunstmärchen 20 1.3. Fairy Tale and Märchen in Nineteenth Century Finland 26 2. Finding the British Eden 2.1. Golden Age and Its Successors 2.1.1. Origins of Fantasy Fiction in Britain 36 2.1.2. Escaping to Edenic Worlds 41 2.1.3. Literary Gardens 45 2.2. Kinds of Literature 2.2.1. Losing the Moralist View 50 2.2.2. Talking Animals, Toys and Other Imaginary Creatures 54 2.2.3. "And the World Turned Upside Down": Nonsense Stories 57 2.2.4. From Adults' to Children's Texts 62 2.3. Victorian Values and Edwardian Attitudes 66 2.4. Journey between Cultures 72 2.5. Times Change, but Tradition is Cherished 76 2.6. Connections between Victorian Children's Literature and Modernism 82 3. Breakthrough 3.1. Pre-war Contacts between British Literature and Finnish Culture 86 3.2. Changes in the Finnish Literary Map in the 1950s 3.2.1. Disappointment and Despair 96 3.2.2. New Road towards Anglo-Saxon Modernism 100 3.2.3. Cultural Atmosphere of the 1950s 108 4. Importance of Popular Culture 4.1. Finnish Popular Culture and Children's Books 112 4.2. American Representations of British Texts 120 5. The 1950s as Golden Age of Finnish Children's Fantasy Fiction 5.1. The World of Tove Jansson 124 5.2. Oiva Paloheimo's Tirlittan 127 5.3. Marjatta Kurenniemi's Fantasy Novels and Stories 133 5.4. Kirsi Kunnas' Tiitiäinen Books 138 5.5. Nonsense and Intertextual Relations to Carroll's Alice 5.5.1. Jansson and the Chaos of Wonderland in Moominvalley 140 5.5.2. Tirlittan and Alice - Two Wanderers? 145 5.5.3. Kurenniemi: Rewritten Version of Alice and Nonsense Land in the Wallpaper 147 5.5.4. Kunnas: Nonsense and Nursery Rhymes 153 5.6. Animal Fantasy in Finland 5.6.1. Roots of Finnish Animal Fantasy 158 5.6.2. Kurenniemi's Onnimanni and the laws of nature 160 5.6.3. Kunnas' Tiitiäinen Books and the Tradition of the Fables 160 6. Prose or Poetry? 6.1. Modern Poetry Meets Children’s Fiction 164 6.2. Tove Jansson and the Landscape of Feelings 165 6.3. Tirlittan and the Concentrated Plot in the Nursery Rhymes 169 6.4. Kurenniemi: Keys to the Secondary Worlds 171 6.5. Kirsi Kunnas – Queen of Finnish Children’s Poetry 172 6 7. The Values of Finnish Children's Fantasy Literature 7.1. Importance of Family in Finnish Society 7.1.1. Nuclear Family and Motherhood: Jansson’s Moomin Books 175 7.1.2. Tirlittan - the Orphan Girl 179 7.2. Boys and girls 7.2.1. Briskness and Vanity in Jansson's Moomins 181 7.2.2. Tirlittan, Kunnas’ Rebel Princess and the New Girl Models 182 7.2.3. Kurenniemi and Traditional Sex Roles 183 7.3. Forgotten Minorities and Exotic Curiosities 186 8. Characteristics of Finnish Culture in the Fantasy Fiction of the 1950s 8.1. Kurenniemi’s Books and Reflections of Contemporary Society 192 8.2. Kunnas's Tiitiäinen Books and Folklore 204 8.3. Jansson’s Moomins and Eternal Summer 205 9. Development of the Tradition after Its Creation 9.1. Strengthening Position of Anglo-Saxon Culture and Literature in the 1960s 209 9.2. Finnish Tradition of Fantasy Fiction 212 Conclusions 220 References 225 Literature 242 Bibliography 245 Abstract 267 7 Introduction This study concerns the intertextual relationships between Finnish children's fantasy literature in the 1950s and works of the Golden Age of British children's literature. Both the genre and period are defined in terms of Finnish literature. The Golden Age is a common term among British literary critics. Instead of literary content, it refers to a certain historical period. In Humphrey Carpenter's opinion, the Golden Age - named after the title of Kenneth Grahame's book - took place between 1860 and 1930. (Carpenter 1985, IX) Generally the period is simply called the Golden Age, though some critics, like Sheila G. Ray, call it the First Golden Age to distinguish it from the Second Golden Age, which occurred between 1958 and 1974. (Ray 1982, 17) Margaret and Michael Rustin have composed a more complex categorisation, dividing British children's literature into three periods: the mid-decades of the nineteenth century, the late Victorian and Edwardian phase, and the period after the Second World War. (Rustin & Rustin 1987,1) Which writers’ works, then, are considered to be representative of the First Golden Age? The scholars mentioned above have usually concentrated on the fantasy classics of the age. Thus, Charles Kingsley's (1819-1875) The Water-Babies (1863) is often seen as the starting point of the era, along with the nonsense classic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass (1871), both by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, (1832-1898). Following these novels, a group of fascinating fantasy stories for children were written: George MacDonald's (1824-1905) Princess-books (1871-1872), Beatrix Potter's (1866-1943) little animal stories, starting with The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1893), Kenneth Grahame's (1859-1932) The Wind in the Willows (1908), J. M. Barrie's (1860-1937) Peter Pan (first performed as a play in 1904, then published as a novel in 1911) and A. A. Milne's (1882-1956) Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) with its sequel The House at Pooh Corner (1928). All these books have several common characteristics, such as the elements of fantasy and the creation of extraordinary worlds. On the other hand, they are also different. Some, like Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, concentrate on playing with the language, according to the terms of the nightmarish Wonderland, while others, like Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, reach 8 pastoral heights in their description of an almost perfect paradise. The Golden Age had a remarkable significance regarding the development of fantasy literature in Britain. Writers like P. L. Travers (1906-1996) or J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973) could not have created their fantasy books without knowing the tradition of the Golden Age. The Golden Age was also very significant in the development of Finnish children's fantasy fiction. In the 1950s, following the drastic changes in the culture and society, which took place during the Second World War and the post-war reconstruction, Finnish authors were looking for a new way to express themselves. They found the genre of fantasy literature, which offered, at the same time, an escape from the depressing reality and a way to criticise and comment on it safely. This way, Finnish children's literature, which earlier had had strong connections especially with German fairy tales, started to recreate itself and establish a new tradition, which also had a strong position in later decades.