Lolita is a novel, written by Vladimir Nabokov – notable for its highly subjective narrative, unique writing style and controversial subject matter – sex, statuary rape, denial, deviance, incest and cheat. The name “Lolita” has entered into pop-culture to describe a sexually precocious girl.
Lolita just happens to be a novel that doesn’t need to be judged by it’s (original) cover – thanks to it’s classic reputation (certainly a Thrash Lab suggestion as a must-read). Additionally a must watch film – you have your choice because two versions have been made, one by Stanley Kubrick in 1962 and another adaptation by Adrian Lyne in 1997.
Back in 2009, VenusFebriculosa.com, a blog run by John Bertram, held a book cover competition, where contestants could submit an original design for Vladimir Nabokov’s classic novel Lolita. Apparently John Bertram felt that Lolita as a story has a lot of graphical representation that can be conveyed in such a variety of opinions. Well, John Bertram is going to be releasing a book (in June), with co-editor Yuri Leving. The book will feature many of the contest entries he once received along with essays on historical cover treatments and never-seen-before Lolita original covers created by 60 well-known designers, two-thirds of them women: Barbara deWilde, Jessica Helfand, Peter Mendelsund, and Jennifer Daniel, to name a few.
Below are 4 of our favorites, selected from the massive collection of Lolita book cover designs John Bertram has on his Flickr gallery. We hope to see a few of these featured in his upcoming book release.
Design by Zhuldyzay Dauletalina
Design by Aleksander Bak
Design by Catherine Earley
Design by Jihee Yoon
Do you like the original 1955 book cover design of Lolita best? Or do you like one of the redesign contest submissions better?
