UPDIKE, JOHN
This view of all 3,277 covers from The New Yorker is indeed overwhelming. It is almost impossible to digest so many stylish and witty images. In fact, judging from this book, one might conclude that The New Yorker has been more concerned with whimsy than art, good taste than content, and propriety than substance, and the format does nothing to dispel this conclusion. Aside from the brief and gratuitous introduction by John Updike, there is no text. No discussion of design aesthetics or historical influences is included. Had they been larger or chosen to illustrate some thesis, the images might have justified a catalog of covers. As it is, one wonders for whom the book was intended.
- Douglas G. Campbell, Warner Pacific Coll., Portland, Ore.