“Every book, (or rather: every good book) contends with a calculus greater than the mere facts of its narrative. If books were only drama delivery-systems, than we’d have nothing to talk about in literature classes, and Stephen King would be a Nobel Laureate. The facts of the narrative may keep us turning the pages, but it’s a book’s greater purpose, as it were, that makes it truly worthy of our attentions. We come for the liter-al, but we stay for the liter-ary.”
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From Peter Mendelsund’s wonderful exploration of the complexities of creating a representational image for a book. This particular post focuses on Nabokov’s Lolita, and it looks like there will be a few more posts in the next few days on book covers and literary representation. Can’t wait. (via viafrank)
Really great post that I was happy to see in my Reader feed today. Definitely go check it out.
(via viafrank)
