Friday, October 29, 2010

PaperBack

Jack McReady (Talmadge Powell), The Raper, Monarch, 1961.

4 comments:

Richard R. said...

I don't think this description would ever have turned me on, or made me want to read the book, though the illustration is pretty sexy.

Tom Roberts said...

My proofreading-weary eyes thought that backcover title read, "The Rapper."

I thought it was a book ahead of its time.

Tom Roberts

Todd Mason said...

Well, Rick, when you think about it, the illo is at cross purposes with the theoretical (and probably real) spirit of the book.

Kinda like how the most recent issue of ILLUSTRATION uses a men's sweat illo to sell the Norman Saunders book, of a woman about to be raped/tortured by a fat Nazi man...we're supposed to revile that he's doing what some part of us resents desiring to have suggested, at very least, unless we're expected to be utterly untroubled and enticed by the tableaux.

Todd Mason said...

Talmadge Powell wrote a fair amount in that mode. It does tend to set up some drama.