Here it is again.
And again.
I mentioned before that I was amazed at how feeble a book The Graduate is. However, it's about to become a Penguin Modern Classic (with an introduction by the increasingly boring Hanif Kureishi), though at this moment there seems to be some confusion as to what the cover will be. Choose your favourite from these two.
To be honest, I prefer this old Essential Penguin cover from 1999 (artist unknown, as I don't have my copy to hand--yes, I've kept a book I don't like because of the cover, though this is foolishness).
While being a good image, that cover picture also elegantly captures something of the vibe of affectless tedium experienced by the book's reader.
Finally, sorry for the non-posting over the last few days--I've been sick and unproductve. Read a lot of Wodehouse, as it seemed what the virus-addled brain needed. More, of more substance, soon.
I like the Bancroft cover.
ReplyDeleteNow I've got that song going round and round in my head. "So here's to you, Mrs Robinson ... "
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree about the Graduate. I read it a few years ago and just never did come to give a damn about any of the characters or what they did.
ReplyDeleteI remember The Graduate as being wonderful, likely because I read it as a 13-year-old. If dim memory serves, it features a description of Mrs. Robinson undressing - just the thing for a capture a boy's attention. Reading your criticism, I know not to pick it up. Wouldn't want to spoil the memory.
ReplyDeleteAbout the new Modern Classics edition: surely the second is best. Frankly, whether book or film, I don't recall a scene in which Elaine lies beside a pool.
I suspect 13 would have been a good age to read it. As with 'Catcher in the Rye', I think I came to it much too late.
ReplyDeleteBut a girl by a pool is, you know, SEXY!