h4. Earlier this year, Faber published an anniversary edition of The Bell Jar with a new cover which provoked strong reactions. Here, our reading group from Rugby School share their thoughts on the new packaging.
As a starting point for discussion on The Bell Jar_, we thought we’d look at the controversy over the front cover. Critics have denounced the cerise backdrop, with the portrait of a woman adjusting her make-up, as demeaning to the book. According to an article on the guardian, the feminist blog Jezebel described it as “hideous”, with writer Tracie Egan Morrissey noting: "_For a book all about a woman’s clinical depression that’s exacerbated by the suffocating gender stereotypes of which she’s expected to adhere and the limited life choices she has as a woman, it’s pretty … stupid to feature a low-rent retro wannabe pinup applying makeup."
We agreed that, with this cover, it certainly came across as more of a chick-lit than an intense story of isolation and depression, with Margot describing it as looking like “something my mum would read on holiday”. We questioned whether it undermines Plath’s prestige as a writer, in the same way Esther’s intelligence is undermined by her job at a fashion magazine. We also discussed whether it restricts the potential readership of the book to just women. One of our male members of the group said that this was the real problem with the cover: it would reinforce the label of the Bell Jar being a “women’s book” when actually the problems of alienation and disconnection explored in the book, are part of the human condition that everyone should be able to relate to.
The counter-argument we thought of, however, is that actually the cover is exploring the gender expectations Esther has to live up to. It’s a kind of ironic gesture rather than a misunderstanding of the book. We also considered how the book cover could draw in a greater readership. If book houses are keener to stock it because it appeals to a greater number of people than a more serious looking cover would, then it is nourishing Plath’s ability rather than demeaning it.
All in all, however, the majority of us seemed unconvinced by Faber’s cover, because it is not an accurate reflection of the book’s content.
