Find Your Valentine
Slog
News & ArtsWednesday, November 11, 2009
Visual Art / Books Kurt Vonnegut Gets a Facelift
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 4:34 PM
Redesigned has images of the newly redesigned Kurt Vonnegut covers, like so:
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.
1
I'm with you on the neon color palette. But that old cover design definitely needed something new.
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.
3
I sure hate it when they put blurbs on the cover. I know, I know...water long under the bridge, but still...
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.
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.
7
Agreed @ #6, Galapagos' cover makes no sense...Deadeye Dick and The Sirens of Titan are really good.
8
V covers were way better.....and I am usually of the cartoon-y persuasion.......geez that is uggo.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
The Sirens of Titan, Hocus Pocus, Player Piano, and Cat's Cradle are Vonnegut's best work, in my opinion.
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.
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.
The V one is like a case study in how to design a shitty book cover.
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.
I don't mind these cover designs. Neon aside, they're truer to the spirit of Vonnegut's work than those dull previous covers.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
24
They remind me of James Thurber illustrations. Which is a good thing in my book. The colors are a little painful.
25
Huh, really?! I LOVE the new covers. I think they suit the books so much better than the old ones.
Advertisement
Most Commented on Slog
-
SL Letter of the Day: Pill The Homos! by Dan Savage
-
Dear Huffington Post... by Dan Savage
-
Because Guns Make Us More Safer by Goldy
-
Slog Bible Study: Deuteronomy 21:10-14 by Goldy
-
The Rick Santorum Rally in Tacoma Probably Could Have Gone Better by Paul Constant
-
The AP Is Reporting That Whitney Houston Is Dead by Paul Constant
-
SL Letter of the Day: Daddy Loves Who? by Dan Savage
-
Because Guns Make Us Safer by Goldy
-
Gay Kids Are Still Killing Themselves by Dan Savage
-
Gregoire: "This is signed!" by Eli Sanders
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (25) RSS