Book Covers & Memory: Part 2
A significant amount of time has elapsed since my last post, during which I studied many book covers, spread across numerous genres. This post will follow up on the observations made in Part-1, while also dealing with a fresh set of connections between book covers and memory.
There are many book covers that symbolize the content of the entire novel. However, in most cases, we find that the symbolic value is fully gathered and understood by the reader only after having read the book completely. In such scenarios, the processes of remembering, recollection and association are relied upon, wherein the book cover draws upon the reader’s memories of the novel (remembering and recollection), and on their ability to connect with the symbolic cover (recognition). For example, let us consider Doris Lessing’s incredibly experimental novel, The Golden Notebook. The novel tells us about the various facets of the life of the protagonist, Anna Wulf, through the medium of four notebooks, each of a different colour. The fragmentation prevalent in the four notebooks is explained, and comes full circle, in a fifth notebook, the golden notebook. Considering that the notebooks comprise the crux of Lessing’s novel, the book cover attached below becomes an epitome of the same:
The cover, an assortment of pastel shades, is representative of the four notebooks, with a strategic spotlight on the golden notebook. For those who have read the novel, the cover above will undergo a transition from being an insignificant assortment of colours, into being a symbol of significance. As mentioned before, this transformation is aided by the readers’ memories and experience of reading the novel.
While most book covers tend to identify themselves with either the title of the work, the entire work, or both, there are certain instances of book covers identifying themselves with a particular author, and vice-versa. One of the best examples for this category of book covers is provided by the Vintage collection of Haruki Murakami’s works. Take a look at the collage below:
The uniformity in these covers of the Vintage editions is rather explicit: a minimalist design, uniform font size and type, disciplined adherence to the colours red, black and white, and frequent repetition of the circle motif. Given the overall simplicity of the covers, it registers itself on the readers’ minds without much effort. With repeated viewing, the memory associated with the cover and its design becomes strong, to the extent that in the future, the reader will be able to distinctly identify the book as a work by Murakami, without necessarily needing to look at the author’s name (very much like a reflex response), due to the specific nature of memories.
The past two decades have been characterized by staggering leaps and bounds in the field of technology. With so many options available for entertainment, the reading population of the world has seen a significant decline. As a consequence of the same, writers and publishers have become increasingly reliant on book covers to plant, or, re-kindle, the desire to read, the burning want to read within the psyche of readers and non-readers. Movies and television series enjoy a roaring popularity in the society, especially amongst the young adult population. Many works of literature are being adapted to the screen, with the adaptations managing to attract a better response than the books. Being largely cognizant of this trend, it has become a common practice within the publishing industry to replace traditional book covers with film adapted book covers, containing the movie’s promotional poster at the front. This practice has witnessed a massive polarization of opinions regarding its effectiveness and overall appeal. However, studies show that the introduction of film-adapted covers almost always result in a significant increase of paperback sales. One possible explanation for such an occurrence is this: since films have a greater social reach, a book cover based on the film, will enable the readers to associate the book with their memories and experience of watching films. Primarily, these covers capitalize on the positive emotions associated with movie-watching, so as to construct a similar appeal for the books.
Studies in psychology have established that across the years, the attention span of humans has seen a massive decline, due to factors well-known to us. According to Microsoft, currently, the average attention span of humans is eight seconds. In other words, it is imperative for a book cover to capture and fascinate within eight-ten seconds. In order to achieve this, the cover designs need to be precise, while exuding a sense of familiarity, such that a diverse corpus of readers’ memories can identify with them. It is towards accomplishing this feat that, book covers, quite like movie posters, are adopting minimalism. Through minimalist book covers, the publishers aim to capture the entire ocean in a bottle. As discussed in the first category of this post, minimalist book covers also rely on pre-formed memories associated with the reader’s earlier experiences of the novel. The success of minimalist book covers is contained in their ability to understand and capitalize on the retention capacity of visual memories. The images of select minimalist covers of famous classics are attached below, justifying the point:
The deep inter-connection that exists between book covers and memory is vast in its expanse. A few more pertinent observations regarding this connection, this inter-relation, will be dealt with in Part-3.
