With thanks to Didier Poiret

The two editions of this book (one published in 1992 and the other in 1994), a Russian translation of two novels by Frédéric Dard  (Cette mort dont tu parlais & C’est toi le venin, both  belonging  to his “Romans de la nuit”) present some minute, and inexplicable differences. At first glance, it is not obvious, but the pose and the women lying are similar, yet different. Why ? Is the 1994 cover (picture on the left) deemed less aggressive, because of its less crude colours and because it features a slightly more clad woman than the one on the right (1992)? Even with not so subtle semiotic codes, there are subtle boundaries and differences in degrees.