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2025 is an anniversary year: the Moomins are turning 80! Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen was published in 1945, marking the beginning of the Moomins' never-ending success story. The reason for their appeal is that the Moomin family provides a place of harmony and peace. At least, that's what we are told on The Moomin Characters Oy Ltd website:
»[In Moominvalley] stands a tall blue house – a joyful place where everyone is welcome, whoever they are, whenever they come. The Moominhouse is a symbol of security, shelter and a sense of belonging. These are universal needs. Timeless needs. They are as true today as they were 80 years ago.« (https://www.moomin.com/en/moomin80/)
Nothing could be further from the truth. For one thing, not everyone is welcome – there are several characters who are deliberately excluded in the course of the nine Moomin books. For another, the Moomin world is haunted by catastrophes and disasters.
My lecture focuses on the second phenomenon: Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen (1945), Kometjakten (1946), Filifionkan som trodde på katastrofer (1962), Farlig midsommar (1954), and several of the Moomin comic books – Moomintroll and the End of the World (1947/48) and Moomin and the Comet (1958) – take up catastrophic situations. To date, researchers have shown little interest in this accumulation of disasters. The anniversary year provides an apt opportunity to once and for all ask: Why this? What lurks behind all these disasters? Spoiler alert: It's the mother!