Notes from the Underground

              Designed by New York-based graphic designer Rodrigo Corral, this cover art to Osamu Dazai’s 1948 novel, No Longer Human , is simplistic yet alluring. The cover art features an eye-catchingly bright pink background that is almost offensive, with a globular black mass resembling the silhouette of a person. The figure possesses no distinct features of a human, other than what seems to be a head and a torso. It has no face, no defining characteristics, it exists only as a featureless blob, projecting a semitransparent shadow upon the background. Knowing the plot of the story, this figure likely represents the main character’s view of himself: a vaguely human form, faceless, casting a metaphorical “shadow” on the world around him. The character (both the protagonist and the figure) deems itself unworthy of a face, something to be identified and recognized by. It wants to be forgotten. However, in its desperate attempt to remain unnoticeable, it becomes something which you cann