CHEAP THRILLS: An Informal History of the Pulp Magazines

by Ron Goulart ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 7, 1972

The Grub Street hacks of the '20's and '30's disgorged the creepy stuff by the yard and were paid by the word. Pulp literature as the author says was the purveyor of heroes to the masses, and as such it deserves serious sociological scrutiny, but Goulart (one of pulp's sci fi progeny) supplies only the uninhibited enthusiasm of a genre buff. Focusing on the golden years before World War II when up to 200 blood-and-thunder pulps a month were on the newstands, Goulart tracks The Shadow, Doc Savage, Operator 5, Tarzan, Nick Carter, The Spider -- and the BEMs (bug-eyed monsters), Fu Manchus, hoodlums and Indians they stalk from African jungles to galactic wilds. He suggests they provided ""action and alternate identity"" to a generation stunted by the Depression but blandly underplays the racism and xenophobia behind the spies and phantom avengers whose rough ""justice"" saved the United States from total destruction ""in every story, every month."" And the elements of sadism and sexual fantasy go totally unmentioned. On the other hand Goulart does provide names, pennames and faces within the pulp fiction empire -- and cached among the journeymen are Dashiell Hammett, H. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan. Since Goulart offers no verdict, aesthetic or moral (unless he shares the opinion of writer Lester Dent who called it ""crud""), this will be read mainly as campy entertainment from the Stone Age.

Pub Date: Aug. 7, 1972

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Arlington House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1972

Categories: NONFICTION