Tove jansson, who was born in 1914, wrote some wonderful adult fiction, but she is best known internationally for her Moominland stories and her illustrations for children. Jansson was often asked whom she wrote for. For herself, she would reply. But once she added: "If my stories are addressed to any particular kind of reader, then it's probably a Miffle." The Miffles were the lonely, timid ones, and their fear was important, she said. "Anxious and self-confident children alike are unconsciously drawn to it, and to de-struction." At first glance, this sits oddly with the easy-going charm of Moomin-land where, in spite of disasters and the Groke and the sinister Hattifatteners, civility and good humour always prevail.
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