a whispered "Listen"

The Great Gatsby opening in theaters in a week:  the novel, meanwhile, selling largely, and a whole New York Times feature article covering the novel's -- well -- covers....The original one, with eyes in a sky, and the movie tie-in one, with Leonardo DiCaprio on the front surrounded by an (I think) appealing art-deco design.

The article:----------- Now the novel is dividing the nation's booksellers with dueling paperback editions....So far this year, sales of the paperback with the original jacket art...have been extraordinary....The new edition, with its Art Deco glitter, presents a stark choice for readers, as well as retailers who are trying to gauge the tastes of their customers.

At stores like Barnes & Noble, with its nearly 700 outlets, both editions will be available.  But at Walmart, only the movie tie-in edition will be stocked....

Cathy Langer, the lead book buyer at the Tattered Cover in Denver, said that by issuing two covers, publishers are trying to reach two audiences that may not overlap....---------------------

We're on the edge of our seats, with this "competition."....

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This article drew 229 Comments!

(Comment from Bridgeport, Connecticut):  The Great Gatsby is a great book....So who cares what caused a person to read it?  I'm a librarian and I once had a student read it because it was the shortest book on the required reading list.  He loved it.  Bought his own copy....

(from New Jersey):  As to what one other commenter has already alluded, the cover art is not important here.  The Great Gatsby is what lies between the covers and nothing changes that.  If a more updated cover gets more people to read this fine book, then it is something to celebrate.  It reminds me of opera buffs who can't abide an update of a classic.  Get over it....If repackaging means more read these great novels or listen to the great music of Puccini, then all the better.

(from Washington, D.C.):  I understand how a new cover on a reprint might reach a different audience -- art isn't a static thing....

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[excerpt, The Great Gatsby]-------------- It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down, as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again.  Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth, but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget:  a singing compulsion, a whispered "Listen," a promise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour.--------------

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