Here’s a second, later (1983; Penguin Books) version of the cover of Saul Bellow’s Henderson the Rain King, by Roy Ellsworth.
It’s a very different from Bill Preston’s 1972 cover, which was stylistically a little more traditional, relying on the use of brighter colors and not at all on the direct representation of the novel’s characters.
The manner in which the two artists visually depicted Bellow’s animating idea in such a different manner is an interesting – albeit ironically wordless! – commentary on the rapidity of change in artistic style over a short period of time.
“The glorious, spirited adventures of an eccentric American millionaire who finds a home of sorts in deepest Africa”. (Cover blurb)
______________________________
This is how I became the rain king
I guess it served me right for mixing into matters that were none of my damned business
But the thing had been impossible,
one of those drives which there was no question of fighting.
And what had I got myself into?
What were the consequences?
On the ground floor of the palace,
filthy, naked, and bruised,
I lay in a little room
The rain was falling, drowning the town,
dropping from the roof in heavy fringes, witchlike and gloomy
Shivering, I covered myself with hides and stared with circular eyes,
wrapped to the chin in the skins of unknown animals
I kept saying, “Oh, Romilayu, don’t be down on me.
How was I supposed to know what I was getting myself into?”
My upper lip grew long and my nose was distorted;
it was aching with the whiplashes and I felt my eyes had grown black and huge
“Oh, I’m in a bad way
I lost the bet and am at the guy’s mercy.” – Saul Bellow (p. 203)