My Penguin The Complete Fables
Penguin Classic : My Penguin
Paperback : 02 Aug 2007
£5.00
Synopsis
We've published seven more Classics with naked front covers and this time there's a twist... The seven titles have been chosen by seven bands (including Razorlight, Beck and Ryan Adams) and they've all done their own covers for them.
Why not design your own cover for My Penguin? Visit www.penguin.co.uk/mypenguin to find out more!
Johnny Flynn has done a cover for Aesop's Fables
See Johnny Flynn's cover
Read an interview with Johnny Flynn
See photos of Johnny's design process
Sardonic, wry and wise, Aesop’s Fables are some of the most enduring and well-loved literary creations in history. In a series of pithy, amusing vignettes, Aesop created a vivid cast of characters to demonstrate different aspects of human nature. Here we see a wily fox outwitted by a quick-thinking cicada, a tortoise triumphing over a self-confident hare and a fable-teller named Aesop silencing those who mock him. Each jewel-like fable provides a warning about the consequences of wrong-doing, as well as offering a glimpse into the everyday lives of Ancient Greeks.
The Complete Fables by Aesop
Cover Design: Johnny Flynn
Johnny Flynn on judging a book by it's cover and why he just can't seem to finish The Great Gatsby...
Why did you choose this book?
I have always had a fascination with Aesop’s Fables. Something to do with the cruelty with which some of the lessons are deployed.
Talk us through your cover...
It’s meant to be the face of Aesop staring at the reader, but he’s taken the form of an amalgam of the animals whose wisdom he borrows. I tried to make him look like a wise old sage and yet wild at the same time. There are various accounts of his life, some saying he was a slave who rose to the status of a kind of seer. I used ink and watercolours.
Who else’s My Penguin would you love to see?
Jeffrey Lewis
Why did you want to be a part of My Penguin?
I draw and illustrate my own pieces of writing so it’s a really interesting challenge to make something for someone else’s writing. And to do it justice.
What are your top 5 favourite books of all time?
Brewer’s book of phrase and fable
Will in the world
Secrets of fly-fishing for trout
Great Expectations
Gilgamesh
Which My Penguin would you give to a friend as a present?
Any Shakespeare or the Catcher in the Rye.
Why was your choice of book the best My Penguin to cover?
It really lends itself to interesting illustration – all the different forces in the stories.
Do you think your having taken part in My Penguin will encourage your fans to cover their own favourite book?
I’m sure it will.
A book cover is very different from your usual work, how did you find the contrast?
it’s something I do quite often (draw, make, paint) so it wasn’t so unusual for me. The thing that was different was making something to someone else’s brief – normally I know kind of instinctively what I’m trying to express because it’s to do with something I’ve written.
An album cover often sets the mood for the album, how do you think your cover sets the mood for this book?
I want to try and express the mood of duality in all the tales - a kind of non-judgemental expression of the two sides of every argument. There’s also meant to be a sense of Aesop imparting his wisdom with the aid of all the animals he embodies.
Can you judge a book by it's cover?
I quite often do. I hate it when there are loads of reviews or quotes on covers.
How do you hope your cover will inspire others?
I hope it’ll seem quite free and strange but also engage people to see a kind of hidden truth in the picture and then go on to do the same in the stories.
Did you get it right the first time or did you have to give it a couple of tries?
I tried it a few times but not too many, I usually think the first effort at things is the most inspired.
What music did you listen to whilst covering your My Penguin?
Magnetic Fields mostly. And Jeffrey Lewis.
Which book will you never have on your bookshelf?
Never say never.
What are you reading at the moment?
An annotation of speeches made by Krishnamurti.
Which other writers do you most admire?
Shakespeare, Ballard, Kurt Vonnegut, Dickens.
Which Classic have you always meant to read but never got round to it?
The Great Gatsby – I’ve started it about 5 times but something’s always stopped me finishing it.
Which fictional character would you most like to meet?
Viola from Twelfth Night.
Which literary character do you most identify with?
Holden Caulfield. Most young men probably do.
Johnny Flynn does his cover for Aesop's Fables...
