Philosophy of Life ad usum Delphini? How to Tame Fear in the Search for Happiness — the Protagonists of the Moomins Saga in the Face of Danger and Disaster. On the Sidelines of Hanna Dymel-Trzebiatowska’s Book Philosophical and Translator’s Wanderings in the Moominvalley (Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego, Gdańsk 2019)

Abstract

Philosophy of Life ad usum Delphini? How to Tame Fear in the Search for Happiness — the Protagonists of the Moomins Saga in the Face of Danger and Disaster. On the Sidelines of Hanna Dymel-Trzebiatowska’s Book Philosophical and Translator’s Wanderings in the Moominvalley (Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego, Gdańsk 2019) The essay is based on a review of Hanna Dymel-Trzebiatowska’s book Philosophical and Translator’s Wanderings in the Moominvalley (2019). The interdisciplinary considerations of a distinguished researcher of translation theory and a prominent Scandinavian scholar deal with the question of the multi-addressiveness of works intentionally aimed at a young audience and their basis becomes the analysis and interpretation of Tove Jansson’s series about the Moomins, deeply rooted in philosophical contexts. The researcher’s interpretive contexts include psychoanalytic criticism, cognitive poetics, existential philosophy, philosophy of ethics in the broadest sense, and the anthropology of childhood, thanks to which the book fits perfectly into contemporary discussions of the function, place, role and status of children’s literature, its significance in the broader circulation of literary culture, and — potentially — its presence in the field of school Polish language education. The author of the book proves that the characters of Jansson’s stories, reacting in different ways to problems, have to face the threat of life, face the black vision of the world, the dramatic atmosphere of anxiety and make reasonable decisions, related to the “inner” overcoming of misfortune and fear of disaster. Thus, they seek a way to tame fear and find oneself, provoking the reader to think more deeply and discuss existential and ethical issues.