Sunday Salon: Why? Why must you do that to the English canon?
Happy Sunday, all!
It’s been an unproductive week for me, reading-wise. I’m in the phase of my stressy cycle where I can’t bring myself to focus on books and would rather sack out and watch DVDs instead. Combine that with a change in my sleep habits (namely, going to bed earlier so that I can get up earlier) and increased amount of time spent at the gym (Hot by Summer 2010!) means that afternoon/evening free time that would normally have been spent reading has decreased drastically, and when I’m not in the mood to read *anyways*… well, let’s just say I’m glad I’ve got a backlog of reviews, or else things would be pretty dead around here.
One piece of reading-related ephemera before I crash back out on the couch with my Netflix:
The Twilight-themed section of the local Borders always creeps me out… I mean, if you’re a bookstore with already-limited shelf space, is there really a call for shelves and shelves devoted to t-shirts and action figures and jewelry? (Also, $25 for an official Alice Cullen choker, which is essentially a piece of ribbon with a little metal charm on it? Really?) It’s also where all of the YA paranormal romance books get housed, which is all well and good, although the rash of similar saturated-color-object-on-black-field covers means I will never be able to tell most of those books apart, and I’ve *read* a fair number of them.
But then, this Friday, I saw this:
Does that not make your soul hurt? I mean, I spent most of Wuthering Heights wanting to give everyone involved a swift kick in the shins, but seeing it marketed as “Bella and Edward’s Favorite Book” still makes me die a little inside.
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I talked about the same thing a few Sunday Salons ago. It’s just silly, is what it is. While I’m happy if it’ll get the tweens reading the classics, specifically advertising it as Twilight related makes me gag a little.
(On an entirely different note, “love never dies” is the tag line from the Gary Oldman Dracula for me forever.)
You are a much better person than I am! I have been trying to get to the gym for the past couple of weeks but manage to come up with every excuse imaginable! (The fave has been, “OMG it’s so cold outside!” As a Floridian, this gets used frequently!). Hopefully this week, right?!
And I’m on the fence about Bella & Edwards favorites. I agree that it’s a marketing scheme that in some ways downplays the power of these novels. On the other hand, like you said, it could be ‘making it okay’ for these kids to read these books earlier than what they would. In fact, I had a student (7th grader) who read Romeo and Juliet for her independent book project. Her presentation piqued the curiosity of the rest of the class. I wonder if she chose it because of this?
Oh my gosh, my son was sending me messages about the Wuthering Heights cover just the other day. He found it disturbing as well.
I’m a huge Twilight fan, and yet that is more than just creepy. If a person is only going to read a book because it is mentioned in one of the Twilight saga books, then is it really going to get them reading for good? What is the chance of these same people actually enjoying those books?
I was even beginning to think that the vampire thing has gone too far. Everywhere I look, there is another vampire romance book out there. I love vampires, but even I’m getting sick of all of them.
Eek. That IS creepy. I didn’t like Wuthering Heights, but come on…
I think it’s sad that it takes a psyche-out to make kids read classic literature, but, on the other hand, anything that’ll get their heads out of TV, off facebook/myspace/meez/whatever, and to turn off the MP3 player, even if only for an hour, and into a good book is a good thing.
But it is a bit creepy that they’re starting to look like the Twilight books… it’s like their contagious.
I can see why they are changing the covers of these books, to make them appeal to the YA market and I have to say I do like them. Sorry!
My aim is to be body beautiful too by the summer. I have half a stone to go and lots of exercise is needed.
That’s awful! But it sounds like you missed the Twilight chocolate bars….
Um, wow. I am just as amazed to see these marketed for Twilight fans as anyone else (I do get the connection Wuthering Heights has with the series, but what about the rest). However, aren’t the covers great? I just love those roses :)
I’m torn, but only slightly, about the Twilight cover virus that seems to be sweeping the classics by storm. Twilight is a gimmick, and these classics are anything but. However, if Twilight is what introduces these readers to good books, then that’s a good thing, I suppose. Still hemming and hawing over this one…
Shouldn’t that be a sin? The Twilight characters didn’t need to have covers like that to attract them to those books, why should anyone else? Those flowers don’t have a darn thing to do with those novels.
A part of me thinks it’s a bit creepy; the other thinks that, as long as it makes tweens and teens read, why not? And the last part think that it’s creepy. I guess it’s 2 against 1 in my mind! :P
Yeeergh. I knew they’d done a cover like this of Wuthering Heights, but I didn’t particularly mind because I hated Wuthering Heights. But my heart hurts for Jane Austen and William Shakespeare. I feel like they deserve better than this.
Yup, I went to Borders and saw ridiculous Twilight items too. They had an entire shelf filled up that could be used for maybe 5o books, what a waste of shelf space. All those teenage girls love Twilight because Edward is so h4t, what a bunch of baloney.
I saw that when I went book shopping last weekend. The whole Twilight thing has gone way to far.
I have to agree with Vivienne. If it gets YA to read these great classics, then I’m all for it!
Very creepy! But I’ll agree with several other commentors. If it gets tweens reading Austin I’d be happy.
But that is not the reasoning behind this. They just want to make as much money as they can off of their audience.
Very interesting marketing tactic. Can’t say that I especially approve.
Like you I’ve not been in the mood to review or read. Dealing with sick children has a way of making a perfectly good weekend difficult and unproductive on the blogging front.
Did you hear that? I think that was the sound of Jane Austen, Emily Bronte and Shakespeare all collectively rolling over in their graves.
I think my soul just died. I’m a person who doesn’t like purchasing a book with a movie- or TV-related cover (I was unhappy today when the ONLY version of “Darkly Dreaming Dexter” in B&N was one with Michael C. Hall on the front), so books that so blatantly reference other (Really, really poorly written) books just hurt. A lot.
I laughed at those covers, and then I got angry. They’re just so ridiculous. I guess it’s good if it gets teens to read classics, but honestly, those covers make me feel slightly ill. Edward and Bella didn’t make those books great.
A video-game flavored version of this same issue popped up recently with regard to a new edition of Dante’s Inferno”. Covers and paratext have more to do with getting these books into readers’ hands; my hope — and I say this as someone who has devoted his life and career to teaching literature — is that publishers will do everything they can just to get people to start reading these things.
Oh lord. I think if I had seen those classics thus presented in the bookstore I would have vomited up my Cheerios. And I haven’t eaten Cheerios in decades!!!
That is one of the awfullest things that I have ever seen! Doesn’t anyone have any creativity anymore? Do we really need to jump on the Twilight bandwagon for everything!
This post almost makes me scared to go the book store…almost.
I do see the other side of it, which some have mentioned here, that if it gets teens to read these classics that might not be the worst thing in the world. Still makes the stomach turn a bit, but if books like the Harry Potter books, the Twilight books, etc. get non-readers to read and if it in turn gets them to read better literature, then I guess I can turn a blind eye to the marketing strategy. Up to a point, anyway.
I’m gagging a little just looking at those covers.
Yuk , this is weird!! How can they destroy classics like this