Uploaded March 2019 | Updated September 2026, 5 days ago
I literally just looked into this in the last two days and felt a strong urge to discuss immediately(!) so I’m sorry I didn’t go super in depth and I'm a little clumsy talking about it all.
I forgot to mention the idea that visual covers impinge a little on the reader’s freedom to interpret the book’s content by priming the reader with imagery and I could have talked more about the way the “flashy model” of book covers signals what it is to its readership or any number of tangential conversations.
I should also have said that this French cover phenomenon is largely within literary fiction. Recently it does seem to be yielding to "flashy cover" influence, though the traditional French cover still seems to direct publishing convention there in general to some extent – even in more modern interpretations from those major publishing houses which have started to include imagery on their covers.
((DISCLAIMER: There’s a point where I say something to the effect of “throwing away” a book and I just want to be clear that I don’t throw away books. I sell, donate or give them away to friends.))
• • •
ARTICLES FOR FURTHER READING:
(I recommend using a translator and reading the Slate article which is actually referenced in the English article.)
EN // Bare Necessities: The Tale of the French Cover
mastereditionstrasbourg.wordpress.com/2016/01/29/bare-necessities-the-tale-of-the-french-cover
FR // Pourquoi en France les couvertures de livres sont-elles si sobres?
http://www.slate.fr/story/69737/pourquoi-france-couvertures-livres-sobres
• • •
Also (I guess this is sort of related), I was interviewed for the Fluent Show language learning podcast: https://www.fluent.show/127
• • •
Find me on Goodreads:
goodreads.com/nicolemillo
I literally just looked into this in the last two days and felt a strong urge to discuss immediately(!) so I’m sorry I didn’t go super in depth and I'm a little clumsy talking about it all.
I forgot to mention the idea that visual covers impinge a little on the reader’s freedom to interpret the book’s content by priming the reader with imagery and I could have talked more about the way the “flashy model” of book covers signals what it is to its readership or any number of tangential conversations.
I should also have said that this French cover phenomenon is largely within literary fiction. Recently it does seem to be yielding to "flashy cover" influence, though the traditional French cover still seems to direct publishing convention there in general to some extent – even in more modern interpretations from those major publishing houses which have started to include imagery on their covers.
((DISCLAIMER: There’s a point where I say something to the effect of “throwing away” a book and I just want to be clear that I don’t throw away books. I sell, donate or give them away to friends.))
• • •
ARTICLES FOR FURTHER READING:
(I recommend using a translator and reading the Slate article which is actually referenced in the English article.)
EN // Bare Necessities: The Tale of the French Cover
mastereditionstrasbourg.wordpress.com/2016/01/29/bare-necessities-the-tale-of-the-french-cover
FR // Pourquoi en France les couvertures de livres sont-elles si sobres?
http://www.slate.fr/story/69737/pourquoi-france-couvertures-livres-sobres
• • •
Also (I guess this is sort of related), I was interviewed for the Fluent Show language learning podcast: https://www.fluent.show/127
• • •
Find me on Goodreads:
goodreads.com/nicolemillo
