Just like the issue with Justine Larbalestier’s cover for Liar, Bloomsbury USA has now created a much better cover for Magic Under Glass:
But another possible white-washing cover issue has come up in regards to N.K. Jemisin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Could this be another case of cover white washing? N.K Jemisin doesn't think so from what I'm reading on her blog. But hey, I maybe mistaken.
This is the US cover of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms:
Now this is the German cover of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms:
Hm, I see a blonde haired caucasion woman. But apparantly this is okay because Jemisin states:
" ...the image is not meant to depict Yeine or anyone in the story. It’s just a random woman. I have been advised by other pro authors that this sort of thing — art that’s got nothing to do with the book — is common among foreign publishers, who go in more for “symbolic” rather than “representative”/”realistic” like us USians prefer. But in the context of the wider debate on whitewashing… it’s impossible not to wonder about this. If this is indeed a symbol, not meant to directly represent the protagonist, then it’s not whitewashing. Technically.
I have more thoughts, but I think I’ve said all I can safely say.
Anyway, I have decided, for my own emotional comfort, that this image represents Yeine’s mother — who doesn’t show up in the novel, but who does in fact cast a long shadow over its events. She’s described as something like this image, although her hair should be curly."
So instead of Jemisin saying, "This white girl with the blonde hair is a very wrong depicition of what my character is, I'm going to say the woman on the cover is the mother, or just some random woman because I don''t want to stir up anymore controversary for my own reasons."
A white woman with blonde hair, especially internationally, is the "symoblic" portrayal acceptable to be shown on book covers? This is new to me.
I guess whatever helps you sleep at night.
I also must mention an amazing post from The Book Smugglers that really deserves an award on their end for the amount of research and hard work that have done. Ana and Thea have decided to do a monthly feature called "Covers Matter"
"Cover Matters is a new monthly feature in which we examine the medium that is first contact between a reader and a book: the cover. This feature will dedicate more separate space to a topic that has always intrigued, irked, and befuddled us. We will be talking about issues such as whitewashing practices, covers in poor taste, misleading or completely inaccurate covers, clichéd covers and, of course, covers that manage to get it right. We plan on having guests (bloggers, authors, cover artists, and publishers if possible) join us for these monthly pieces, with the following question in mind: Do covers matter?"
Whether you are a reader, author or book blogger, I'm giving you a call to action to read this post which explains perfectly why white washing is a major fail on a publisher's fault. The time to stop cover white washing is now!
Why not join the Readers Against White Washing revolution on Facebook?
4 comments:
So instead of Jemisin saying, "This white girl with the blonde hair is a very wrong depicition of what my character is, I'm going to say the woman on the cover is the mother, or just some random woman because I don't want to stir up anymore controversary for my own reasons."
That isn't what I said. First off, the German publisher said that it was a random woman not meant to represent Yeine; you didn't quote that part of my post, but I was summarizing a conversation with them, not stating that as my own interpretation. (Deciding that the figure represents Yeine's mother was my interpretation, yes. You're right; I did it so I could sleep at night.)
Second, I never said I didn't want to stir up controversy. I've been in support of the anti-whitewashing movement for a long time now. I think my post makes it clear, however, that I cannot be the one who does stirs up the controversy in this case (beyond acknowledging what's happened). Not if I want a career. And since I've got many more books in me featuring PoC characters -- the rest of the Inheritance Trilogy for starters -- I would kind of like to have that career. Therefore I presented the facts, and left the interpretation up to readers (adding my own interpretation just so people would know how I felt about it).
You are, of course, welcome to get angry with me; I can't stop you. I explained why PoC authors make choices like that in this post, a few days before I saw the German cover. I stand by that post even more now that I've got to live with it myself. But if you still want more of a response from me than this, you're not going to get it. (There have also been other authors saying the same thing in this debate; one of my favorite statements is from a fellow author who explains why no debut author is going to get angry about something like this in public, and why it's unrealistic for readers to expect them to.)
I think the thing that readers don't understand in situations like this is that they have far more power than authors. Readers are the consumers in this business; they're the people the publisher is hoping to please. Authors are not. Authors are essentially workers -- temps to be specific, employed on a contract basis with no benefits. I can gain more power over time, possibly enough to demand changes in the event of future whitewashing -- if I stay in this business long enough and sell enough books. (Ursula K. LeGuin is a great example... but look at how long it took her to gain the power to change her covers.) Until then, there are things readers can say and do that I cannot.
So I wholeheartedly encourage readers to make their feelings known to publishers who whitewash; I'm sick of whitewashing too. Please don't think I'm okay with it. But again, I've said all I can safely say on the matter.
Well, it sounds like you guys both have a lot of common ground here around whitewashing!
I'd be interested in the opinions of European and German readers about whether they see the people on their books as symbolic rather than representative.
Letting publishers do something that you think is wrong with your own work just because you want to protect your publishing contracts is pretty lame. No matter who has "the power" over cover art, it's the author's work and they're not able to stand behind it 100%, then they should either own up to why or not publish it. And I'm sure there's a way to do it that wouldn't offend anyone.
First a disclosure: I know the author.
Now an entirely unbiased defense of her decision: :)
The text of the novel is the author's work. The cover art is not; it belongs to the cover artist and publishing company. Disavowing and questioning her book's cover is a reasonable move for an author to make. Withdrawing the book *entirely* from publication (or at least German publication...) over the cover? Well, that's a cost-benefit, isn't it? So, let's see here.
It seems to me, given the lack of representation of PoC in SF both as authors and characters, the benefits of changing that balance by publishing a diverse text like Jemisin's far, far outweigh the unfortunate message sent by the whitewashing of the German cover. The decision to publish the book seems to me, then, a clear net bonus to the SF field-- entirely aside from concerns about the security of the author's future book contracts.
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