Sci-fi is minimal in Penguin's new guide sequence
Penguin Classics has released a new series of ten science fiction books intended to give the genre a kind of rebranding. The books included have been written by authors from around the world and span the full spectrum of science fiction, from satire to dystopia. However, they are unified by eye-catching jacket designs that use caution about the mainstream science fiction aesthetic.
Jim Stoddart, Penguin Art Director, chose line drawings to showcase the new series, a world removed from the busy scenes and classic iconography that many have associated with the genre. “There may be a tradition for science fiction books to illustrate unknown conceptualized worlds on their covers. But when I judge a book by its cover, even with the best of intentions, I feel that the rendering of representations often does not do the writing justice and, perhaps, wrongly ghettoizing some amazing books that should have a much broader appeal. "
The refreshingly minimal line drawings were chosen to convey the human quality at the center of the narrative. The covers also give a moment of calm that is seldom seen in science fiction images. The sparse designs and reduced color palette give readers some breathing space to construct their own imaginary visions.
"The Penguin Classics science fiction series is the beginning of a collection of the most creative fonts, and it was really important to turn a corner," explains Stoddart. “These books are existentially mind-blowing and the action is best taken in the imagination. It felt right to let the role of these covers simply be to reference the pages within instead of illustrating them.
“The range of eccentric worlds and living new concepts in these books is great, but what unites them is the human experience. The relatively minimal line drawings on these covers express the essence of much more complex ideas, ”he adds. "They have the craftsmanship that quick sketches achieve when intricate thoughts are still running around in your head."
The versatile series contains books from the time around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. "During this time, the representational arts lost the human imagination and blossomed – almost hand in hand with literary innovations – to find new ways to articulate deeper ideas," says Stoddart.
Some of the covers are recognizable to readers. Designs show works by modernist masters such as Picasso, Le Corbusier and Herbert Bayer.
“There is a living spirit of ingenuity in each of these drawings. For example, Herbert Bayer's expanded field of view diagram so succinctly visualizes the many distractions that the universe has inflicted on the main character in "A Million Years Until the End of the World" by the Strugatsky brothers, ”says Stoddart.
"Yevgeny Zamyatin's We are possibly the very first dystopian novel in which everyone has to live in irreconcilable glass apartment buildings and whose work, life and love is regulated by the state," he explains. Stoddart channeled this on the cover with Le Modulbusier's Modulor drawing, which the painter and architect described as "a series of harmonic measurements on a human scale that are universally applicable to architecture and mechanical things".
For the cover of The Cyberiad by Stansilaw Lem, the answer came from one of the most influential artists of the 20th century: “Picasso's search for the limits of what makes human chimes irresistible to us, with the very human relationship between the two machine protagonists in the book. ”
The science fiction series Penguin Classics is available now. penguin.co.uk