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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Kurt Vonnegut Gets a Facelift

Posted by on Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 4:34 PM

Redesigned has images of the newly redesigned Kurt Vonnegut covers, like so:

tumblr_ksgifhGgNs1qz7q8fo1_500.jpg

I admit that I learned to love Kurt Vonnegut during the period of time in which they had the Carin Goldberg-designed covers, and maybe the outsize "V" design hasn't aged really well. And I understand that the new covers resemble Vonnegut's own artwork. But still: I think these new covers look like shit, from the crappy doodles to the neon color palette. If I didn't already know who Vonnegut was, they wouldn't make me want to investigate any further.

 

Comments (25) RSS

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1
I'm with you on the neon color palette. But that old cover design definitely needed something new.
Posted by Patr0ck http://patrick.livejournal.com on November 11, 2009 at 4:42 PM
Dougsf 2
I like about half of the news ones, Slaughterhouse-Five I think is actually the most improved. They're not great, but the old covers just aren't going to encourage any young-adults to pick them up.
Posted by Dougsf on November 11, 2009 at 4:46 PM
baconpussy 3
I sure hate it when they put blurbs on the cover. I know, I know...water long under the bridge, but still...
Posted by baconpussy on November 11, 2009 at 4:47 PM
Vince 4
When even Vonnegut needs a redo because books are struggling, books are really having a hard time. He was always a favorite of mine when I was young and learning about the world. I hope young people discover him again.
Posted by Vince on November 11, 2009 at 4:48 PM
5
As crappy as the new cover may be (which really the only part that truly rubs me the wrong was is the color palette) it is far and away better than the "V" cover. The Art Deco style is all wrong, and I get an unconscious Ayn Rand association.
Posted by UNPAID COMMENTER on November 11, 2009 at 4:50 PM
6
I don't get the cover of Galapagos. A rattler? Should've been a blue-footed booby.
Posted by keshmeshi on November 11, 2009 at 4:53 PM
slaggy 7
Agreed @ #6, Galapagos' cover makes no sense...Deadeye Dick and The Sirens of Titan are really good.
Posted by slaggy http://www.videowatchdog.com on November 11, 2009 at 5:06 PM
Andy_Squirrel 8
V covers were way better.....and I am usually of the cartoon-y persuasion.......geez that is uggo.
Posted by Andy_Squirrel on November 11, 2009 at 5:06 PM
Mattini 9
Ick... all of the new covers are very bargain-booky. Do not like. Then again, the old covers weren't great either. And I feel the Ayn Rand vibe also.
Posted by Mattini on November 11, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Supreme Ruler Of The Universe 10

Funny, I was watching "Futureworld" (the sequal to "Westworld") on the THIS network a few days ago, and I thought...this was cyberpunk before their was cyberpunk. This was Jurassic Park (in the sense of chaos making the most controlled situation go out of control) before CGI.

Then I was thinking about Kurt Vonnegut's ice nine from cat's cradle, how that totally beat out almost anything for cyber, punkness and catastrophe theory way, way before Creighton left private practice.

All of which is to say that its exactly right that Vonnegut's cover should look like something a 15 year old would carry in their bookbag. Even in 2009.
Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe http://yrihf.com on November 11, 2009 at 5:15 PM
Fifty-Two-Eighty 11
I think @10 has it right. Don't ask me what I think of the cover - ask a 15-year-old. That's the intended market.
Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty http://www.nra.org on November 11, 2009 at 5:28 PM
12
Nobody picks up Kurt Vonnegut because of the cover art.
Posted by Ackham on November 11, 2009 at 5:31 PM
13
Question: are the "crappy doodles" original Vonnegut crappy doodles? I can imagine a cover of Breakfast of Champions with a crappy doodle that might work just perfectly
Posted by One-time commenter on November 11, 2009 at 5:48 PM
14
it looks like a witchy-poo themed chick lit book. what the hell do neon pink and yellow have to do with SHF? To me, this is a story that deserves a somber and simple french style design.
Posted by pony on November 11, 2009 at 6:12 PM
Urgutha Forka 15
Aren't we supposed to avoid judging books by their cover, good or bad?

The Sirens of Titan, Hocus Pocus, Player Piano, and Cat's Cradle are Vonnegut's best work, in my opinion.
Posted by Urgutha Forka on November 11, 2009 at 6:19 PM
16
It doesn't just look like his art. It IS his art. That's why some of the images (Galapagos) don't make great sense. They had to use whatever he'd made. That being said, I'm not so excited about the colors. They kinda say, "wacky-Floridian-vigilante-mystery-genre." Boo.
Posted by BkShill on November 11, 2009 at 7:48 PM
17
The skull cover is actually sort of OK.

The V one is like a case study in how to design a shitty book cover.
Posted by jw36 on November 11, 2009 at 8:28 PM
18
@10, Westworld was a Jurassic Park before CGI because it was written by the same guy, who basically wrote the same story over and over for years. (team of uniquely eccentric specialists is brought together to investigate a mystery, complicated by technlogy malfunctioning). Futureworld was a pale sequel made without Crichton's involvement, though.

I don't mind these cover designs. Neon aside, they're truer to the spirit of Vonnegut's work than those dull previous covers.
Posted by Peter F on November 11, 2009 at 8:39 PM
Dee 19
I'm with #16 - that colors really are the issue for me, especially since Vonnegut actually drew the images. They could have done something less new-wave-punk with the colors. And layout.

I actually own that V-cover edition. Layout aside, the colors just make it look so... dim and subdued? Not at all in line with the character of the book.
Posted by Dee on November 11, 2009 at 9:00 PM
20
I love the old design, I have most of his books (not the last few) with those covers.
Posted by Kristi in Kitsap on November 11, 2009 at 11:06 PM
21
Um... the crappy doodle is a crappy Vonnegut doodle. I think his own art on the cover is more appropriate than anyone else's. Does Breakfast of Champions feature his asterisk-asshole?
Posted by portland scribe on November 11, 2009 at 11:51 PM
22
Oh, dear golly, how I love these books. I would read them all again every year.
Posted by zzzzzz on November 11, 2009 at 11:54 PM
23
@ portland scribe: it doesn't look like BoC has been designed yet. You can see the available covers here: http://www.vonnegut.com/books.asp

These covers play into the cartoony side of Vonnegut's style, but they don't give enough weight to his deep and unsettling observations of humanity. His books may seem frothy and inconsequential in places, but they are sharply observed and unnerving meditations on humans' faults and glories.

A good illustration of Vonnegut's combination of light comedy and devastating pessimism, taken more or less at random:

"Teachers of children in the United States of America wrote this date on blackboards again and again, and asked the children to memorize it with pride and joy: 1492. The teachers told the children that this was when their continent was discovered by human beings. Actually, millions of human beings were already living full and imaginative lives on the continent in 1492. That was simply the year in which sea pirates began to cheat and rob and kill them." – Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions.
Posted by YTAH http://ytah.wordpress.com/ on November 12, 2009 at 1:33 AM
24
They remind me of James Thurber illustrations. Which is a good thing in my book. The colors are a little painful.
Posted by clearlyhere http://clearlyhere.livejournal.com on November 12, 2009 at 7:23 AM
gettingtoknowyoubetter 25
Huh, really?! I LOVE the new covers. I think they suit the books so much better than the old ones.
Posted by gettingtoknowyoubetter http://gettingtoknowyoubetter.wordpress.com/ on November 12, 2009 at 10:26 AM

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