Moomintroll is a series of children's books written by Finnish Swede Tove Jansson. Not only are they some of the most elegant representations of the subtle melancholy of childhood, they also represent a distinctly Swedish aesthetic principle concerned with the elegance of the ephemeral, a concept also central to Japanese aesthetics and known as Wabi Sabi. These books may be partially responsible for my generally wistful temperament, however the very pervasive and beautiful sadness, the bittersweet concession to impermanence which has left me so ill adjusted, is what makes these books some of the greatest children's literature I have ever encountered.
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