Dark, witty and painful, Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar has disturbed and enthralled readers from the moment it was published under a pseudonym in 1963 – months before the poet and writer killed herself.

Now the novel is once again stirring up strong emotions, with the publisher Faber accused of portraying the book as glorified chick lit through its design for the book's 50th anniversary edition.

The cover – featuring a young woman fixing her makeup in a powder compact – has been criticised for misrepresenting the work and trivialising its content.

The London Review of Books was among the first to question the "silly" cover. Blogger Fatema Ahmed suggested that Plath's work had become a victim of commercial pressures: "I can imagine complaining along these lines in an editorial meeting at a British publishing house, and being sighed at: 'Yes, of course the 1960s cover is beautiful – I love it – but Waterstones and Tesco won't stock it.'

"It sounds like a reasonable point ... But it isn't as if The Bell Jar has to earn out its advance. And for some reason the rule doesn't apply to recent anniversary redesigns of Orwell (by David Pearson for Penguin) or BS Johnson (by La Boca for Picador). Lucky them."

The feminist blog Jezebel called the cover "hideous", with writer Tracie Egan Morrissey noting: "For a book all about a woman's clinical depression that's exacerbated by the suffocating gender stereotypes of which she's expected to adhere and the limited life choices she has as a woman, it's pretty … stupid to feature a low-rent retro wannabe pinup applying makeup."

She added: "Redesigning feminist staples and classic literary ladies to be more appealing to the larger and more lucrative chick lit audience is apparently a common practice."

Hannah Griffiths, Faber's publisher of paperbacks, said the company was endeavouring "to keep our backlist writers in the minds and hands of new readers". In a statement, issued after a day of criticism, she said: "We think there is a reader for this novel who could enjoy its brilliance without knowing anything about the poetry, or the broader context of Plath's work."

She said the much-derided cover image represented "the beginning of the story, where the narrator is an intern at a women's magazine in New York in the 1950s and is encountering the conflict between new freedom and old assumptions about women's aspirations". She added: "We love it and the sales since publication suggest that new readers are finding it in the way that we hoped."

The writer Naomi Wolf supported the publisher's appeal to the "chick lit" audience. "I see nothing wrong with this – except perhaps that some young women seeking a lightweight beach read might get unexpectedly very depressed," she said.

"I think what I find more interesting is the reflexive dismissal of 'chick lit' – men's genre writers, like le Carré, are treated much more respectfully, as are men reading genre or escapist fiction – just as I find it interesting that serious nonfiction that addresses solutions to women's concerns is sometimes dismissed as 'self-help' – while men's solution-oriented nonfiction is called – 'serious nonfiction'."

Other Plath fans were less keen. Writer Naomi McAuliffe said many were disappointed at the treatment of a book that had such a significant impact on their lives. "There is real lack of ambition, creativity and imagination in the way marketing tries to target women," she said. "It's condescending and also condescending to men by telling them that this isn't a book for them. Dated stereotypes limit your audience, not broaden it."

Jamie Keenan, a book cover designer, said that Faber generally produced strong covers, but had "obviously not got it quite right" this time. He said that shrinking physical sales were pushing many publishers and their designers to take fewer risks: "Publishers are trying to make their covers as commercial as possible, the last thing they want to do is say 'this is a bleak book'."

A searing examination of the ravages of mental illness and the limitations of 1950s American society, The Bell Jar tells the story of college student Esther Greenwood, and the enclosing bell jar of her depression.

The first edition of the novel to appear under Plath's name, published in 1967, featured a cover designed by Shirley Tucker, with a bold type face and urgent concentric circles. Fans of the novel were outraged that a similarly bold cover has not been used to mark the 50th anniversary.

Reader Sarah McAlpine wrote: "It's a lady book? About a lady? Lets make it pink and grab a stock photo of a lady with make up. Ladies love that."

Cethan Leahy said the novel now looked like a "tale which is possibly about the fun hi-jinks of four air stewardesses", while children's writer Louie Stowell wrote: "I think, after that Bell Jar cover, my next pitch for a kids book will be The Big Pink Book of Low Expectations For Girls. Commercial gold."