HOME TRUTH

By DAVID
LODGE

David Lodge's extended novella is a delicious contemporary comedy on the

perils of celebrity. It concerns a plot for revenge hatched by two writers,
Adrian, a distinguished novelist seeking obscurity in a cottage near Gatwick
and Sam, a successful scriptwriter who drops in on his old university friend
en route to LA. The object of their revenge is one of the new breed of
Rottweiler interviewers, a young woman who writes vicious profiles for a
paper and who has just published a particularly nasty profile of Sam.
Naturally, it all goes completely wrong.

The Penguin Books edition from 5th

June 2000, present us, on the front
cover, the name of the author,the title of
the book, the title of two more books,
that David Lodge wrote, the indication of
the book’s genre, a specific illustration
and the tag of the publishing house. The
back cover of this edition contains a
please-insert, as Genette states, in wich
we are presented the summary of the
book. We can also observe a quote/ a
question, a laudatory press comment, it
is also mentioned the designer of the
cover art and we can indentify the cover
illustration. We can also observe the
price of the book, the ISBN code, the
magnetic code bar and the tag of the
publishing house.

The front cover image presents us an

insight on the novella’s story. We can
observe a crowded room, just like
the one in which Adrian Ludlow lives
with his wife Eleanor. In the room we
can see three people, two men and o woman. The scene suggests us that the
couple has just received a guest, the man standing tall, a guest that is upset
because of some newspaper article. The room is an intimate space , the man
is standing on the armchair, is dressed with pajamas , it has a dressing gown
on him and is holding a cup of tea in his hands, fact that can suggest us the
nationality of the characters as being English. Those things give us the
impression that the couple wants to retreat from the world.

On the background of the room we can see lots

of books that suggest us that the man is an
intellectual, a writer maybe.

The dominant color of the image is red, o

powerful color that makes us to think to the
feelings of the two men, those two being the
main characters, as the woman is placed on a
secondary position. The red color suggest us
anger, feelings that can’t be detained.

The name of the author is written in large bold

letters above the image on the front cover, on an
orange background. The name of the book is
written under the image, in a different style than
the name of the author, but with the same large
bold letters.

Another edition of Home truths was

published on November 4th 1999 by Secker
& Warburg.

On the front cover of the book we can see the

name of the author written in large letters, on
the center of it we can see a house, above the
house an airplane and under the house the
name of the book, written in smaller letters.

The airplane suggest us that the house is near

an airport, as we will find that out later from
the story. We can also see that there is nothing
else near the house, thing that suggest us the isolation or the desire for intimacy of
the inhabitants. The cover is divided between two main colors, green and purple,
as for the house is represented by red and yellow. The setting of the house make
us believe that it is a common link between two different worlds.

The Penguin Books Ltd edition from June 29th 2000

in United Kingdom, present us on the front cover of
the book an image of a man standing on an
armchair and reading a newspaper. In his left side
we can see a wooden table and a lady’s hand
putting a recorder on the table. On the background
we can see a shelf with books on it, that show us
that the man is an intellectual, a well read person.
The recorder is there to introduce us in the world of
journalist, maybe a journalist that stole some
information, as we can’t see its face, an used it in
order to harm a person.

Besides the images, on the front cover we can see

the name of the author, written in large bold letters,
under it is the name of the book, written in italic
and smaller letters and above all these we can see
a laudatory press comment along with the tag of
the publishing house.

A Romanian edition of Home truth by David Lodge,

translated as Crudul adevar was published in 2006 by
Polirom. On an orange background, occupying more that
half of the space that the front cover offers, we can see the
name of the author, written in bold and very large letters
and the tag of the publishing
house. The name of the book
shares the other half of the
space along with an image. This
image present us three people in
a room, we can see that two of
them are sitting on armchairs, a
man and a woman, suggesting
that that room is their house,
and the third person standing
tall, just like someone who just
arrived. The man that sits on the
chair is dressed with pajamas,
the women drinks tea,
suggesting intimacy, he reads a newspaper brought maybe by the visitor as we can
see by the gestures of the latter, that is annoyed by something and requires
explanations.

The back cover of the edition takes again the image, the name of the author and
the name of the book, followed by a summary of the book and a laudatory press
comment. At the bottom of the back cover we can find other books names written
by the same author along with the magnetic code bar and the ISBN code.

A French edition of Home

truth, published in January 1st
2001 by Rivages and
translated as Les quatres
vérités present us on the front
cover an image where we can
see an English newspaper, that
suggest us that the action
happens in England, on the
newspaper we can observe a
recorder and three cassettes.
Near them is an ashtray that
also suggest us that the
characters are from England.
On a border with a red
background above the image
we can find the name of the
author, under his name the
title, uder the title written with
smaller letters the name of the
person that translated the
book, and the name of the
publishing house.

The back cover of the French edition present us, on a red background, that implies
tumultuous feelings, a summary of the book. At the bottom of the cover we can see
the magnetic code bar, the ISBN code and the price of the book.

David Lodge's dazzling novella examines with wit and insight the contemporary
culture of celebrity and the conflict between the solitary activity of writing and the
demands of the media circus.
Paratextual elements in David
Lodge’s

HOME TRUTH
Suditu Alexandra

Romana-Engleza

An II Grupa 2