Tove Janssons bildebok Vem ska trösta knyttet? som heltedikt

Abstract

Tove Jansson’s Picturebook Who Will Comfort Toffle? as a Heroic Poem

This article offers an analysis of Tove Jansson’s picturebook Vem ska trösta knyttet? (Who Will Comfort Toffle?) from 1960 as a heroic poem and dramatic monologue, representing an alternative reading to earlier studies of this picturebook as a coherent narrative. Drawing on theory about heroic poetry, poetry and picturebook analysis, we provide a reading that expands those interpretations of Vem ska trösta knyttet? that emphasize the romantic and psychological projects of the book when read as a narrative story. By reading Vem ska trösta knyttet? as a heroic poem, we explore the text as an uttered, ritualistic, and iterative event rather than solely a narrative with fictional characters. Read in the tradition of the heroic poem, Toffle is (still) the hero, where lyrical language and structures allow the reader to remember and retell the poem, letting Toffle’s deeds live on beyond the alleged time of events and the performative declaration by Toffle.