Summary

The Finland-Swedish author and artist Tove Jansson (1914–2001) is most famous for her Moomin books, but she has also written several books for adults. Her second non-Moomin book The Listener (Lyssnerskan1971/2014), a collection of short stories, is characterised by seeing and attentiveness. The collection is a study of observing and interpreting one’s own surroundings and aspirations, of seeing the other or seeing yourself, to be seen or not. A close reading of the titular short story ”The Listener” shows that the fluctuating focalisation thematises the relationship with the other, which in turn is related to British philosopher Iris Murdoch’s thinking on moral attention. While previous readings have discussed the story as a woman’s emancipation or lack thereof, this reading focuses on her changing relationship to the other and the labour of attention behind it.