Tove Jansson

'Fair Play' portrays a love between two older women, a writer and artist, as they work side-by-side in their Helsinki studios, travel together and share summers on a remote island.

A Novel

Fair Play

Fair Play is the type of love story that is rarely told, a revelatory depiction of contentment, hard-won and exhilarating. Mari is a writer and Jonna is an artist, and they live at opposite ends of a big apartment building, their studios connected by a long attic passageway. They have argued, worked, and laughed together for decades. Yet they’ve never really stopped taking each other by surprise. Fair Play shows us Mari and Jona’s intertwined lives as they watch Fassbinder films and Westerns, critique each other’s work, spend time on a solitary island (recognizable to readers of Jansson’s The Summer Book), travel through the American Southwest, and turn life into nothing less than art.

rachel

Mari was hardly listening. A daring thought was taking shape in her mind. She began to anticipate a solitude of her own, peaceful and full of possibility. She felt something close to exhilaration, of a kind that people can permit themselves when they are blessed with love.

"I must continue, filled only with my knowledge, my insight. But I have not yet been able to use the face of death, not well enough. He is too palpable. Or is it a she? In any case, a challenge that fascinates me. And what do you know of death? What do you think about it? Have you ever even experienced a great loss?" "Wladyslaw," Mari said, "do you realize that it's three o'clock in the morning?" "It doesn't matter. One must use the nights. My friend,I sense that you have not thought much about the face of death. And do you know why? Because you do not live with all your strength, all the time, in your own triumph dashing ahead of ime, anticipating it and disdaining it. I am awake, always. Even in my brief dreams I continue to work, constantly. Nothing must be lost.”

“ Do not forget my sign of recognition, a red carnation in my buttonhole! Au revoir!"

Don't even talk to me about all the precision tools that you carry with you half your life, tools you get to know and love-and then someone comes along who doesn't get it, doesn't respect them, someone who handles your delicate instruments like they were can openers!

Mari und Jonna, zwei Künstlerlinnen, zwei Ateliers - verbunden durch einen Gang auf dem Dachboden. Tag für Tag, Jahr für Jahr leben und arbeiten sie Seite an Seite, in Helsinki, auf einer abgelegenen Schäreninsel oder auf Reisen durch Europa und die USA. Immer geleitet vom gegenseitigen Respekt, verlieren sie nie aus dem Blick, wie sie die Kreativität der anderen unterstützen können. "Fair Play" ist der letzte und vielleicht persönlichste Roman Tove Janssons, der Schöpferin der weltweit bekannten Mumintrolle.

Brook

A wonderful slice of life view of two lesbian partner's day-to-day art and adventures. I loved the VHS cassettes, the trip to Phoenix, and the small arguments and frustrations they have. I hope I can share an attic with a partner some day.

Martina Eddone 

A writer named Mari and an artist named Jonna live on opposite sides of a big apartment building in studios that are connected by a long attic passageway, and their relationship grows as they spend time arguing, working, and laughing together.

Joe Bauldoff

Marek R

Mari en Jonna zijn twee vrijzinnige vrouwen op leeftijd. De een is schrijfster, de ander kunstenares, allebei wonen ze in hun eigen appartement in hetzelfde gebouw in Helsinki. Overdag werken ze in hun eigen huis, ’s avonds kijken ze samen oude Franse films, en de zomers brengen ze door in hun huisje op een piepklein onbewoond eiland voor de Finse kust. In glashelder, filosofisch proza beschrijft Jansson de kleine dagelijkse strubbelingen en de momenten van humor en vreugde, het fundamentele wederzijdse respect en de generositeit die de bouwstenen zijn van een goede relatie. Jansson schreef dit boek toen ze in de zeventig was en baseerde het verhaal van Mari en Jonna op haar eigen langdurige relatie met kunstenares Tuulikki Pietilä.

Fair Play A Novel

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