I've now started reading Moominpappa at Sea, and I think I see what you mean. My own father is not really like Moominpappa, but the dynamic is familiar in a larger sense.
Jansson is so good on selfishness in these books. Her characters can be absolutely awful, but things generally turn out all right. The selfishness is rather childish and forgivable and can be accommodated, usually through the generosity of Moominmama. I end up feeling like Jansson is making room for people to be less than perfect, even unpleasant, but still part of the family/community.
But there's something so distressingly and particularly patriarchal about Moominpappa at Sea so far. This insistence on doing everything and knowing everything; on trying to suppress and crowd out Moominmama's skills and knowledge -- it's beyond lovably flawed into actively oppressive. It makes it quite hard to read, for all the fascination of the lighthouse and the island and the signs that Something is going on.
I'm only on page 57, though, so there's time for my mind to be changed.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2018-12-21 10:53 pm (UTC)Jansson is so good on selfishness in these books. Her characters can be absolutely awful, but things generally turn out all right. The selfishness is rather childish and forgivable and can be accommodated, usually through the generosity of Moominmama. I end up feeling like Jansson is making room for people to be less than perfect, even unpleasant, but still part of the family/community.
But there's something so distressingly and particularly patriarchal about Moominpappa at Sea so far. This insistence on doing everything and knowing everything; on trying to suppress and crowd out Moominmama's skills and knowledge -- it's beyond lovably flawed into actively oppressive. It makes it quite hard to read, for all the fascination of the lighthouse and the island and the signs that Something is going on.
I'm only on page 57, though, so there's time for my mind to be changed.