The Semiotics of Covers :: Books Reading Essays

The Semiotics of Covers Im going to buy a hold in today - but not a school obligate, a legitimate book - a bestseller. I walk past the harmonica worldly concern standing popside of the Brown Office Building, clamping my ears shut against the discordant melodies hes spewing out at me. I enter the Brown Bookstore - my Mecca, my Graceland. I ripple past the tables near the door and walk toward the bestseller w wholly, my being on the wholethewhile bombarded by hardcovers pursuit my wandering eyes. Howard Stern in drag screams out at me from the left, something roughly Colin Powell and a journey crys out from the right. Wishing not to be manipulated into purchase an expensive book, I squint my eyes and keep on walking, at long last reaching the ordering counter. I pause, close my eyes and turn around. As my eyes slowly open, my field of vision becomes filled with paperbacks. Hundreds of them, displayed out in the first place me like some crude mosaic, each one lined up and fa cing me on tiny little shelves. Theyre all roughly the resembling size, all the same shape - the single thing that differs is their covers. Each book is showing me a polar picture, a different glossiness, a different font. Each book juxtaposes its elements in a different way, highlighting trustworthy objects while de-emphasizing others. Each book is telling me something, trying to appeal to my gaze. What be they saying? Will it work? The study of these elements of the cover - each books signs and the images/ideas they signify- is curiously appropriate in the case of bestsellers. This is not to say that the covers of bestsellers hold a monopoly on sign/signifier possibilities - nothing could be farther from the justness - its just that in the case of bestsellers, the progeny these signs and signifiers have on the breeze of a book are just more interesting. Proof of this all but surrounds us. Take a look at almost every other section in the brown bookstore almost all books, with the exception of bestsellers and the very new releases, are presented on shelves with their binding pointing out. The only thing one can really ascertain when gazing upon these books is the title and color on the cover. Such elements are important, but dont grab the eye. Unless youre looking for a specific title or author, what you see on these shelves doesnt really effect ones eyes.