Cover-off: Aust vs UK/US

May 01

When Australian novels are published overseas, they are regularly released with different covers. This is partly because, we are told, books need to appeal to different markets and apparently readers in the US and UK have decidedly different tastes when compared to our own (the same logic is often used to justify changing Australian phrases or words: ‘Ute’ to ‘truck’, ‘dunny’ to ‘toilet’). To generalise for a moment, American covers tend to be busier, making use of every inch of space. They are also more likely to feature people and make aggressive use of commercial appeal. British covers, on the other hand, are thought to be able to get away with a ‘less is more approach’. I do wonder whether these distinctions between ‘market sensibilities’ are a bit artificial, but then again if the same jacket was reproduced everywhere we wouldn’t get the benefit of a diverse range of cover art. I have always been interested in the different interpretations that come from different countries and so, to satisfy other like-minded cover enthusiasts, the following is a sort of ‘cover-off’, comparing Australian versions to their British and American counterparts. (Aus covers on left, US/UK on right)

For me, both are good, but the Australian one wins out here by a hair. The UK version was designed by Jonathan Grey who has done some lovely covers before (remember the red hand and wild typeface on Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close?). But the Aus version is, for lack of a better word, just classy. The photograph of a stormy sea in a perfect moment of both subsiding and breaking is neutral enough not to give you any preconceptions, yet moody enough to provoke. Also, have a look at this great cover from the Spanish edition, entitled I Fuggitivi.

Again, I prefer the Australian version here. The US cover is a bit too blunt for me, literally interpreting the short story in which an older woman dyes her hair to cover her ‘dark roots’ when she begins a relationship with a younger man. Also, it has a bit of a ‘chick lit’ vibe which I don’t like. Scribe’s cover on the other hand I think better captures the tone of the entire book, suggesting that there is something a little violent, a little raw to everyday life – a feeling which Kennedy captures expertly in many of her stories.

Hmmm… this may be a clean sweep here as I like the Aussie version again. The UK one isn’t bad, but I love the colour and texture of the boab tree vs the tall burnt grass vs a blue but darkening sky overhead. The British cover is pretty but too wimpy – it doesn’t capture the drama and lifeblood of the landscape (a hallmark of Winton’s prose) in the same way.

JA

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