The Finnish writer and illustrator Tove Jansson is best known for her beloved Moomin characters, immortalized around the world in comic strips and books. But in 1966, Jansson brought her unique touch to a very different world of strange creatures: Lewis Carroll’s classic “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” an English edition of which has finally been published in the United States (NYRB Kids, 112 pp., $19.95). The pairing, before now familiar only to Scandinavian readers, is inspired: Jansson’s off-kilter whimsy and ability to convey moodiness is a perfect match for both the delights and the terrors of Wonderland.
While the book’s original illustrator, John Tenniel, conveyed a topsy-turvy English countryside, Jansson’s Wonderland is almost barren, increasing Alice’s sense of alienation.
In Jansson’s Wonderland, characters are as melancholy, complex and occasionally scary as those in Moominland. Here, a pensive Queen of Hearts cradles the Duchess’ baby while an oddly resolute cook raises her frying pan menacingly and the Cheshire Cat looks on. Alice is frankly terrified.
Jansson’s close observation of the natural world comes through in details like her illustration of the enigmatic caterpillar’s mushroom, and the surrounding flowers and grasses. She brings this naturalist’s eye to embellishments throughout the book.
Jansson’s delicate line drawings convey both the dreamy remove of the early trip down the rabbit hole and the real despair of finding oneself a giant.
Here, blue skies and vibrant flowers provide a surreal background for Alice’s chat with the now-giant cat, Dinah, while bats circle menacingly.
Jansson’s bestiary is a slightly warped version of the familiar.
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