English Class Reimagined Book Covers for Controversial Novels and Curated Exhibit

Last year, students in the English course Dangerous Texts curated an exhibit titled Banned Book Cover Redesigns, featuring their artwork for reimagined covers of the novels “Lolita” and “Invitation to a Beheading” by twentieth century writer Vladimir Nabokov.

“Lolita,” Nabokov’s highly acclaimed and controversial novel, faced bans due to its subject matter, and his novels are often published with covers that simplify and understate their multilayered storylines. 

The goal of the course project was for students to design covers that de-sexualized Lolita, the novel’s famous heroine, and give voice to her pain, isolation, and eventual resilience. The covers for “Invitation to a Beheading” provided students a chance to express their vision of a totalitarian society where reading and writing is forgotten, and imagination serves as the only escape to freedom. 

“Students examine the phenomenon of censorship and disinformation, and the way suppression of information has been orchestrated throughout history in different contexts. Censorship is fascinating and is best studied in perspective-in relation to social/political settings, cultural expressions, and personal identities,” said Elena Sommers, Ph.D., principal lecturer in the RIT College of Liberal Arts Department of English, who teaches the course.

“As we critically read previously banned works, we ask -what is so dangerous about a fictional representation? What makes a certain work dangerous at a particular time and how does this danger manifest itself in stories and novels? What features of political and cultural regimes do artists tend to single out for criticism? What is the range of expressive tools they use?,” she explained.

Sommers says that by analyzing work with a critical lens and presenting accurate representations of controversial work, students are able to address the growing calls to ban literature and explore the methods, reasons, and political movements behind the removal of important stories and novels from shelves.

RIT’s English Department offers a bachelor’s degree in English; minors in Creative Writing, Digital Literatures and Comparative Media, and Literature and Media; several immersions; and a broad range of courses open to all RIT students as general education offerings. 

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— Reported and photographed by Colin Farmer (‘24BS, ‘25MS), double major journalism and sociology/anthropology BS and communication MS, College of Liberal Arts Student Reporter