Why aren't there more illustrations in fiction?
Ten years ago this week I made up International Illustrator Appreciation Day, so naturally enough I've been thinking about illustrations.
I'm halfway through The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, and though I didn't realise they were there when I bought the book, I've been enjoying the illustrations that mark each new chapter:
They set the scene in some way for the chapter to come, and unlike the cover art they depict the cat, Nana, as he's described in the text. The wash style fits beautifully with the whimsy of this Japanese novel.
Not long ago I read Wyntertide, the second book in Andrew Caldecott's Rotherweird trilogy. That, being a fantasy novel which also has a map, is the sort of territory you might expect illustrations, and indeed there are full-page pictures dotted through the book:
To me, these ones are reminiscent of the illustrations you might find in an old-fashioned children's book, complete with a quote beneath, to show which part of the text they go with.
The ones that were delightfully unexpected and seemed a bit odd at first are these:
This is from the Reginald Hill novel The Roar of the Butterflies, the final book in his Joe Sixsmith private detective series. Sadly it's the only one of the series that I've got in this style (I bought them all second-hand). They're not quite comedies but they're light touch, and Joe is an easy-going central character so once you accept these drawings they work really well. I'm not altogether sure who drew them as I can't find a direct reference, only that the cover art was by Christopher Burke.
Three different styles of novel, three genres, three different ways of arranging the illustrations (in among the text, full page within a chapter, chapter headings only). The only commonality being that these are all aimed at adults. In children's books we often encounter illustrations like this but (maps in fantasy novels aside) rarely once we're adults. Perhaps there's an idea that they're only for kids, and of course it adds an extra collaborator in to complicate deadlines and share the takings with, but I think they add something to the novel. Not everyone likes graphic novels, not all books lend themselves to that treatment, but surely there are lots of readers who'd appreciate a sprinkling of art in their books. We're not demanding it because unless we're reminded by books like these how nice it was to read text with illustrations when we were younger, we've forgotten what it is we're missing out on.