American Pulp: How Paperbacks Brought Modernism to Main Street - Hardcover

Rabinowitz, Paula

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691150605 ISBN 13: 9780691150604

Verlag: Princeton Univers. Press, 2014

Inhaltsangabe

American Pulp tells the story of the midcentury golden age of pulp paperbacks and how it brought modernism to Main Street, democratized literature and ideas, spurred social mobility, and helped fashion new identities by introducing readers to books by and about gays and lesbians, African Americans, and other marginalized groups. Drawing on extensive original research, Paula Rabinowitz unearths the far-reaching political, social, and aesthetic impact of the pulps between the late 1930s and early 1960s. Examining their often-lurid packaging as well as their content, American Pulp is richly illustrated with reproductions of dozens of pulp covers, many in color.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Paula Rabinowitz is professor emerita of English at the University of Minnesota. She is the author of Black & White & Noir: America's Pulp Modernism.

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"Paula Rabinowitz's eloquent and persuasive history of mid-twentieth-century pulp paperbacks provides long-overdue recognition of the role these physically humble but culturally powerful books played in our society. The pulps were scorned by literary critics and flayed by clucking Congressional committees, fearful of their effect on the young. But, as Rabinowitz shows, they were carriers of literacy, modernity, and cultural awareness such as America had never seen before. We who wrote pulps never dreamed that a sophisticated and caring critic would one day give our efforts such thoughtful attention."--Ann Bannon, author of The Beebo Brinker Chronicles (1957 1962)

"American Pulp is a masterful achievement--elegantly written, impressive in scope, keenly attentive to nuance, and essayistic in the best sense of the word. Deftly interweaving published reminiscences, archival material, and personal memories and anecdotes, Rabinowitz provides a cultural history of how the pulps helped fashion new identities in midcentury America. She also chronicles an American love affair with books, reminding us that they are an essential part of cultural experience."--Priscilla Wald, Duke University

"American Pulp is a fast-paced, historically rich, and often moving study of the public and private lives of mass-market paperbacks in midcentury America. Rabinowitz traces how the pulps repackaged elite modernist literature for a diverse popular audience that included women, African Americans, sexual minorities, and the working class. And she analyzes the pulps' infamous cover illustrations just as skillfully as she illuminates the texts they surrounded."--William J. Maxwell, Washington University in St. Louis

Aus dem Klappentext

"Paula Rabinowitz's eloquent and persuasive history of mid-twentieth-century pulp paperbacks provides long-overdue recognition of the role these physically humble but culturally powerful books played in our society. The pulps were scorned by literary critics and flayed by clucking Congressional committees, fearful of their effect on the young. But, as Rabinowitz shows, they were carriers of literacy, modernity, and cultural awareness such as America had never seen before. We who wrote pulps never dreamed that a sophisticated and caring critic would one day give our efforts such thoughtful attention."--Ann Bannon, author ofThe Beebo Brinker Chronicles (1957 1962)

"American Pulp is a masterful achievement--elegantly written, impressive in scope, keenly attentive to nuance, and essayistic in the best sense of the word. Deftly interweaving published reminiscences, archival material, and personal memories and anecdotes, Rabinowitz provides a cultural history of how the pulps helped fashion new identities in midcentury America. She also chronicles an American love affair with books, reminding us that they are an essential part of cultural experience."--Priscilla Wald, Duke University

"American Pulp is a fast-paced, historically rich, and often moving study of the public and private lives of mass-market paperbacks in midcentury America. Rabinowitz traces how the pulps repackaged elite modernist literature for a diverse popular audience that included women, African Americans, sexual minorities, and the working class. And she analyzes the pulps infamous cover illustrations just as skillfully as she illuminates the texts they surrounded."--William J. Maxwell, Washington University in St. Louis

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Princeton Univers. Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2014
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0691150605
• ISBN 13: 9780691150604
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 440
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar