#840 The Wolf-Tove Jansson
A woman is acting as a guide for a Japanese artist. He wishes to see ferocious indigenous animals. There are no such animals in the south part of the country so she shows him stuffed animals at an old museum, These are nice but he wishes to see some live.
She manages a trip to an island sanctuary or a zoo even though it is off-season. They have the place to themselves. It is cold and quiet and the artists enjoys his explorations around the grounds. Finally he gets to see live wolves pacing ominously in their cages.
“The wolves’ ceaseless pacing struck her as appalling. It was timeless. They loped back and forth behind their bars week after week and year after year, and if they hate us, she thought, it must be a gigantic hate!”
There is an undercurrent here with the narrator that I cant quite get a finger on. Her insecurity and isolation mirrors the wolves, but not the ferocity or intrigue. Much of Jansson’s power is the subtleness of her style. I wonder how much of that is lost in the translation.
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