Falling Man
Design by John Fulbrook III
Don DeLillo's 9/11 novel.
The title most likely refers to the Falling Man photograph. USA Today had (it's gone now) a link to Anne's Fernham blog; she got hold of an advance copy and there's a brief but good description of the book over there.
DeLillo is in the pantheon of great American writers whose books are so thematically enormous that the design of their covers is often fairly generic: see Pynchon's Against the Day, Roth's Everyman, and McCarthy's The Road. This easily could have followed the same path.
Something tells me there's more going on here. It certainly has me wondering: are the towers still there, below the clouds? There's a good deal of tension here, knowing what we know about what happened that day, what's about to happen, or what's happening below and we just can't see it. Or maybe this is the view from the place from which we as people have fallen.
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11 comments:
Those lines make me think of the beams of light that replaced the the towers.
I think this in spite of the fact that the word "falling" in the title should lead me to the conclusion that the lines are pointing down, not up.
I guess that I still have a block in my ability to absorb this subject matter.
The WTC was on the cover of Underworld (1998?).
There were no clouds above New York that September 11th.
Perhaps the image is intended to induce vertigo?
Fred: good point. I forgot how clear it was that morning.
Great use of "a novel", although this still gets outclassed by the cover of The Good Life.
Hopefully the novel itself is much, much better.
The references to his other books on the cover spoil the design. They could have been put on the back cover.
The back cover contains the rest of the picture seen on the front; it shows the very tops of both towers peeking over the cloud tops.
I have an advanced copy, though I'm sure the hardcover jacket will have the same picture (and the full picture will be easier to appreciate on a dust jacket).
Such a simple cover. Very nice.
I can't tell if it's intentional or accidental that the dynamic im getting is: rocket shooting up through the clouds, instead of: something falling down. also, it may be the scan/photo, but there's a dark spot in the clouds that visually, due to it's close proximity to where the vertical line ends, implies a hole through which the line disappears. but instead the line ends just beside it. i find this awkward. i would say to the designer: either move it further away so i dont expect what is not happening, or align it so that i get what i expect. overall i'd say beautiful composition and aesthetic, but dubious concept and execution.
Fred: good point. I forgot how clear it was that morning nakış nakış promosyon şapka
The cover immediately brought to mind the view on a foggy day -- the entire city below obscured by the rolling clouds. Standing there in the sky ... a beautiful moment a beautiful memory.
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