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Friday fun with feminism, Faber and Faber and a f-f-f-f-ucking hell
The London Review of Books blog has taken note of the forthcoming anniversary reissue of The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath. In particular, they have noticed the cover – which appears to have been designed by the team responsible for Sophie Kinsella’s Sex & Shopping oeuvre. It really couldn’t be more inappropriate, disrespectful or, sorry but I have to say it, bloody hilarious. here it is alongside its more famous predecessor.
Once I’d stopped chuckling, I set to wondering whether it might be possible to design a book cover for a vintage feminist classic that would be even more crass, tasteless and wrong?
Well it turned out I couldn’t. But I gave it a good go. Can you do any better?
Well it turned out I couldn’t. But I gave it a good go. Can you do any better?
http://hetpat.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/friday-fun-with-feminism-faber-and-faber-and-a-f-f-f-f-ucking-hell/
(I especially like the "Intercourse"cover parody)
Thought I should add some context here
'An insult to women everywhere' - Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar gets a 'chick lit' makeover
The Bell Jar is a searing semi-autobiographical look at Sylvia Plath’s struggle with mental illness. But its publishers Faber seem to want to attract a new readership for the troubled poet who died with her head in an oven in 1963. The 50th anniversary edition of her cult first novel, published shortly before her death, has been repackaged as “chick lit” according to a host of appalled readers.
The anniversary edition is a far cry from Shirley Tucker’s 1966 design for Faber in cream and green concentric circles, or the later paperback version of a woman resembling Plath but with her hair and skin unnaturally colourful, the edges of which bleach out and bleed into one another distorting the portrait.
Today's cover is a bright bubblegum pinky red (above), contrasting with a 1950s photo of a young woman patting powder from a compact onto her face, her ruby lips reflected in its mirror. For its stylised, and "Vintage", attractiveness - recalling the glamour of the 1950s and 60s so in Vogue thanks to Mad Men and Call The Midwife - , the cover has provoked a huge backlash, with many calling it an insensitive choice for a book ground-breaking for detailing the suffocating power of gender stereotyping.
The Bell Jar is a searing semi-autobiographical look at Sylvia Plath’s struggle with mental illness. But its publishers Faber seem to want to attract a new readership for the troubled poet who died with her head in an oven in 1963. The 50th anniversary edition of her cult first novel, published shortly before her death, has been repackaged as “chick lit” according to a host of appalled readers.
The anniversary edition is a far cry from Shirley Tucker’s 1966 design for Faber in cream and green concentric circles, or the later paperback version of a woman resembling Plath but with her hair and skin unnaturally colourful, the edges of which bleach out and bleed into one another distorting the portrait.
Today's cover is a bright bubblegum pinky red (above), contrasting with a 1950s photo of a young woman patting powder from a compact onto her face, her ruby lips reflected in its mirror. For its stylised, and "Vintage", attractiveness - recalling the glamour of the 1950s and 60s so in Vogue thanks to Mad Men and Call The Midwife - , the cover has provoked a huge backlash, with many calling it an insensitive choice for a book ground-breaking for detailing the suffocating power of gender stereotyping.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/an-insult-to-women-everywhere--sylvia-plaths-the-bell-jar-gets-a-chick-lit-makeover-8477220.html
7 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
I'm especially amused by "The Second Sex" one... "A hilarious must-read for Sex in the City fans"... 
The real new "Bell Jar" cover, not so much.
Fuck it, it's over, we are officially back in the 1960's.
