Covers of the High and Low: Attractions and Reflections
When preparing a book for publishing, companies surely convene to agree upon a suitable cover - its design, size, color, texture, print size and design, and so on. Not one of these ingredients would be arbitrary, but each seems to perform two functions - attracting the appropriate reading audience, and reflecting the text's content in an intriguing manner. In short, the bestseller cover seems to work to create a certain "aura" which acts as a stylized extension, and/or abbreviated summary of the atmosphere produced by the words within. Often a picture appears centralized on the cover - an image to catch the eye more quickly than mere printed words would. At a moment's glance, the passer-by has already noticed an image, and then continues to process its meaning, aided by the ensuing title and perhaps author's name. Certain expectations and questions are inspired, as techniques of the cover take effect in the mind of the potential reader. The meaning derived from the cover's collaborating external signifiers is often fulfilled within the internal text. Because the cover is reflective of the novel's internal workings, and often its "high/low" cultural classification, the first reader/cover encounter could both determine a reader's initial acceptance or rejection of the book, and be somewhat prophetic of his/her subsequent reading experience. In this way, the bestseller cover is effective in reflecting the inner substance of the writing (including "high" or "low" cultural quality) in an intriguing manner which attracts appropriate readers.
Danielle Steele's Vanished portrays a small picture - an almost outlined (rather iconic) suggestion really - of a young boy in what ...
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...s traits of the "low cultural" bestseller converge together in the compact, physical realm of the cover to reflect the content's most "popular" strengths in a way that is provoking, and often enigmatic. The use of image and other signifiers of the cover is handled differently by "high cultural" bestsellers, as their literary self-perceptions are different. Hence, although both "high" and "low cultural" bestsellers use similar methods of content reflection, their covers are remarkably dissimilar, owing to 1.The difference in the publishers' perception of the book's strengths (such as "art", or "entertainment"), and 2.The target audience the publisher wishes to attract, based upon these perceptions. All bestsellers are popular, and their charismatic covers, when channeled to the appropriate audience, must be imperative in their achievement of such immense popularity.
Setting expatiates the theme of loss of innocence. For example, the four major characters in this story are sixteen and seventeen years old, which is the age when teenagers prepare to end their childhood and become adults. Also, the Devon school, where the story takes place, is a place where boys make the transition to full adulthood, and so this setting shows more clearly the boys' own growth. Finally, World War II, which in 1942 is raging in Europe, forces these teenage boys to grow up fast; during their seventeenth year they must evaluate everything that the war means to them and decide whether to take an active ...
perceive the novel in the rational of an eleven-year-old girl. One short, simple sentence is followed by another , relating each in an easy flow of thoughts. Gibbons allows this stream of thoughts to again emphasize the childish perception of life’s greatest tragedies. For example, Gibbons uses the simple diction and stream of consciousness as Ellen searches herself for the true person she is. Gibbons uses this to show the reader how Ellen is an average girl who enjoys all of the things normal children relish and to contrast the naive lucidity of the sentences to the depth of the conceptions which Ellen has such a simplistic way of explaining.
“Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait.” These are three demands for the writing of fiction. By following these demands, an author sparks interest in his/her work. “Make them wait” is a signifigant in creating the interest in the novels The Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies. This essay will explain how making the reader wait creates interest in the two novels stated earlier.
There is a famous expression about three demands of writing fiction. It goes, “Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait.” By following these needs, an author can spark interest in his or her work. In the novels The Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Rings, the novelists utilize the latter requirement, “Make them wait.” This essay will show how the authors use that specific demand in their novels.
Generates a "buzz" before retail release in domestic and international markets with Patterson loyalists and "omnivorous" best-seller readers
ALS is a degeneration of motor neurons that move from the brain and down the
By following these demands, an author sparks interest in his/her work. “Make them wait” is a significant factor used by the author of the novels “The Catcher in the Rye & “Lord of the flies”. In this essay I will explain how making the reader wait created interest in these two novels.
The Russian writer Ivan Turgenev wrote in Fathers and Sons in 1862, "A picture shows me at a glance what it takes dozens of pages of a book to expound” (Turgenev 196). Mark Twain was a living testament to that belief because iillustrations were an integral part of Mark Twain’s published work. They embellished his stories, informed the reader, and often reflected his humor. However, today’s fictional novels rarely include illustrations beyond the cover and fly leaf. This lack of illustrations has become more the norm in the digital publishing world because the illustrations often do not translate well to the digital format. My research paper will delineate the reasons that illustrations were relevant and necessary for the 19th century publication and why they are less relevant in the digital age. I will show that illustrations played an essential part in the success of Mark Twain’s books (1) because he made them an integral part of his writing, giving clarity to his written words; (2) because of the subscription publishing model of his era, and, (3) because of Twain’s dependence on them to describe his characters. However, the digital and audio publishing market of today has lessened the impact of illustrations in modern literary works. In Twain’s 19th century era, books were often a work of art as well as a literary treasure. The books I read today on my e-reader or listen to on “Audible” versions -- even Twain’s books -- almost never have a visual impact like Twain’s books had in the 19th century.
The Great Gatsby, used its own, unique creative language to attract readers attentions in many ways. For one, the cover design has become iconic for its bright blue background and simple yet abstract artwork, that, in its own way tells the story of Gatsby. But, aside from the visual means of using creative language, the author himself used his own style of creative language to keep readers engaged throughout
The stylistic technique that both texts share is the use of sensory key words and images that not only appeal to the emotion of the reader, but help...
When I first sat down to write this article, I was focused on the other prompt. After a few days of flipping through various photographers and their works, option B still plagued me. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking about how photography could possibly be of any use inside the world of creative writing, my major. I thought of cover art first. A lot of cover art is not pictorial in its nature, most all of it now is digital, but there are covers that do use usually panoramic scenes of nature, or are closely tied to movies These novels run headshots of the stars or action sequences from the film on the cover. Another, rather common practice in which photographs appear as the covers of books is in the genre of autobiography. Biographies usually present the grinning head of the person the book is about, in what can only be considered as a creepy cross between a mug shot and a campaign photo. Therefore, I had now destroyed my original thesis that photography and creative writing were incompatible or at least separate mediums that could not benefit from the inclusion of the other. Now to see just how deep the connection seemed like a reasonable next step.
For my Independent novel study project, I chose to do a book cover on The Chrysalids. The cover of a book cannot target a specific audience; however, I constructed mine to target people in the age group 12-18. I chose that specific group because the main character, David, is in that group when the story is being told; thus, the audience can relate to the characters at personal level.
The collaboration between Brodovitch and Harper’s Bazaar turned out to revolutionize both fashion and magazine design. Brodovitch intensively used white space and double page spread. “Models in Parisian gowns and American sports clothes “floated” on the page, surrounded by white backgrounds, while headlines and type took on an ethereal presence” (AIGA). Such techniques fostered a sense of a fashionable life. Thus, by establishing the unique technique in the magazine layout for Harper’s Bazaar, Brodovitch has become an inspiration for not only his students, graphic designer...
Grimm, J. and Grimm, J. (2003). Little red cap. In Schilb, J. and Clifford, J. (Ed.) Making literature matter (pp. 670-672). NY: Bedford/St. Martin?s.
Confusion about what it means to own a book leads people to a false reverence for paper, binding, and type - a respect for the physical thing - the craft of the printer rather than the genius of the author. They forget that it is possible for a man to acquire the idea, to possess the beauty, which a great book contain...