A new week, a new Re-Covered Books contest. I’m going to do better about keeping this contest active and moving since so many of you truly seem to enjoy it. This time around I’ve decided to go away from my natural nerdy, boy aesthetic and open up to some older, more feminine literature. Kyle and I were speaking about what book to re-cover this time around, and he thought Jane Eyre would be a good idea. Honestly, I have to say I’ve never read Jane Eyre before, it’s not exactly my style, but I can certainly appreciate it for it’s proto-feminism and Gothic themes.
To do a bit of preparation I read the Jane Eyre Wikipedia page several times, and this bit was super interesting to the nerdy, boy part of me.
Jane Eyre uses many motifs from Gothic fiction, such as the Gothic manor (Thornfield), the Byronic hero (Mr. Rochester) and The Madwoman in the Attic (Bertha), whom Jane perceives as resembling “the foul German spectre—the Vampyre” (Chapter XXV) and who attacks her own brother in a distinctly vampiric way: “She sucked the blood: she said she’d drain my heart” (Chapter XX). The mystery of Thornfield manor with its dark secrets creates a typically Gothic atmosphere of suspense. When resolved, we then get the theme of madness, also common in Gothic fiction, as is the motif of two characters, John Reed and Bertha Mason, who commit suicide. Although the novel contains no overt supernatural occurrences, hints of apparently supernatural happenings are frequently mentioned such as Jane’s prophetic dreams, her sense of the ghost of her uncle, or the lightning striking the oak tree on the night she agrees to marry Mr. Rochester.
Here’s what I’d like to see. Something that doesn’t look anything like what you see in the examples above. I want you to come up with something that’s new and contemporary, something that will grab the attention of a person walking by but that still stays true to the spirit of the book. Don’t do anything retro, a Penguin throwback or anything of the sort. I want to see new, fresh ideas. The winner of this month’s Re-Covered Books contest will win $100 to Amazon.
RULES
• Please save your images as JPGs no larger than 800px wide at 72 DPI/RGB mode, there’s no height restrictions (within reason). Feel free to play with the dimensions and have fun with what you make. Making a front and back cover with certainly help your chances, but is not required.
• Label your files “firstname-lastname-jane-eyre.jpg”
• Send all entries to [email protected] with the subject “Re-Covered Books: Jane Eyre“. Cut and paste what I wrote there, it’s super easy and it helps me keep track of your entry.
• All entries are due September 1st, 2011 by Midnight, PST.
If there are any other questions feel free to leave them in the comments. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with and be sure to tell your friends/classmates/pets to participate. Good luck and have fun!
