NYRB is publishing translations of Tove Jansson’s writing that haven’t been available before in English, and we’re so lucky.
I loved the first memoir I read, The Summer Book, reflecting the memories of a child. Now I’ve read her adult memoir entitled Fair Play. The books are very different, written in differing styles, but they form parts of a while.
The first is a wonderful retelling of the feelings, images, and myths of childhood. The second is a matter-of-fact recounting of how two artists live and work together — and the give and take required to make that work.
“Fair Play” here means balancing needs, creating companionship without getting in each other’s way – and not using weaknesses against each other.
The stories illuminate the understanding, civility, silence, distance and patience between these two women, and the quirks that must be allowed for.
My favorite passage was the story of the chaos her partner creates when rearranging artwork on the walls and then the amazing change it makes when she’s finally completed her work and the juxtaposition of pieces changes their impact and meaning. The scenes set in a hotel in the USA while they traveled cross-country on a Greyhound bus were funny and interesting too, rather like one’s own travel journals, strange and interesting things happen, but is it a story? Does it round itself off? Perhaps it’s simply an anecdote to retell years later.
The tension of trying to be there for your partner, while focusing on your art wholeheartedly, touched and inspired me.