A Study of “Fidelity” in Middlemarch Book Covers

Abstract

Book Covers play a major role in the identification and reception of literary works. However, not so many studies have been attributed to them. Genette and other critics’ concern about the significance of book covers lead the present study to investigate the factor of “fidelity” in Middlemarch book covers. To this end, six available covers from the Penguin Classics will be taken into consideration. The results would investigate how this publisher has been successful in demonstrating true images of the novel. It is concluded that while some covers do not give a true picture of the incidents of the novel, some like Midlands’ 1994 and 2003 versions have been relatively sincere in presenting the novel. It is hoped that the results will help the critics to pay more careful attention to book covers and their influence on the reception of literary works.