Image Schema in Multi-Ethnic American Novel Covers

Abstract

Book covers play a significant role as they send various messages not only through textual elements but also and most importantly through visual ones. It is noteworthy that it is the responsibility of the book cover designers , in coordination with the authors, to “represent the ideas of the author, reflect the content of the book, and attract customers to purchase the book” (Gallager, 2015). Based on the review of literature made, most researchers, if not all, focus on the content inside the book ignoring text in the synopsis and/or the visual content on the front cover. Thus, the aim of this study is to analyse the visual content on the books’ front cover along with the written synopsis on the back cover. The data of this study is 20 novel covers written by American female feminist writers from different ethnic groups. Thus, it is analysed within the framework of Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA) by (Lazar,2005) to explore the representation of women reflected through the covers. Additionally, this study applies the Image Schema Theory (Johnson, 1987) using the typology of (Evans & Green, 2006) and the modality markers proposed by (kress & Van Leeuwen, 2006). In addition, the study investigates the American ‘melting pot’ hypothesis, where the mainstream American culture has superseded all other secondary cultures. Results show a high degree of acculturation between the subcultures and the mainstream Anglo-Saxon American culture.