Print ISBN: 978-1-4298-3827-6
# of Pages: 258
# of Volumes: 1
Print List Price: $105
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Critical Insights: Pulp Fiction of the '20s and '30s

Editor: Gary Hoppenstand, Michigan State University
May 2013

Tags: 11 Critical Reading EssaysCurrent Critical Analysis by Top Literary ScholarsIntroductory Essay by the EditorDetailed Bio of the EditorAdditional Works on ThemeGeneral BibliographySubject IndexArchived Material

Download: Table of Contents Sample Pages
This volume presents a variety of new essays on the topic of popular pulp fiction and writers of the 1920s and 1930s, focusing on those major contributors to the Weird Tales school, which not only included Lovecraft, Howard, and Smith, but also Seabury Quinn, C.L. Moore, Robert Bloch, August Derleth, and others.

From their origin at the end of the nineteenth century to their decline in the 1950s, "pulp" magazines entertained the masses with lurid stories in such genres as adventure, Western, romance, crime, fantasy, horror, and science fiction.

Readers seeking a deeper understanding of the genre can focus on the Critical Readings essays, that explore it in depth through a variety of critical approaches. Among the contributors are S.T. Joshi, Jeffrey H. Shanks, Andrew J. Wilson, Garyn Roberts, and Richard Bleiler.

Each essay is 2,500 to 5,000 words in length, and all essays conclude with a list of "Works Cited," along with endnotes.

Additionally, a section on archived material comprises six articles culled from a trio of Salem Press reference books—Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature (1983), Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction & Fantasy Literature (1996), and Masterplots II: Short Story Series, revised edition (2004)—that have critically charted the most significant works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. The works covered in this section belong to the “big three” of Weird Tales—Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft, and Clark Ashton Smith—as well as preeminent contributors C. L. Moore and Seabury Quinn.

Additional Resources

  • Additional Works on Pulp Fiction
  • Bibliography
  • Contributors
  • About the Editor
  • Index

View a Full List of Literature Titles

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January 2012

Critical Survey of Short Fiction

This Critical Survey was originally published in 1981, with a supplement in 1987 and revised editions in 1993 and 2001. The Fourth Edition includes all writers from the previous edition and adds 145 new ones, covering 625 writers in total. Altogether, the writers covered in this set represent 44 countries and the history of short fiction from antiquity to the 21st century. The set also offers 53 informative overviews; 24 of these essays were added for this edition, including all the literary movement essays. In addition, seven resources are provided, two of them new. Author portraits are included as available.

March 2013

Critical Insights: Crime and Detective Fiction

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March 2017

Critical Survey of Science Fiction & Fantasy Literature

This edition provides descriptions of hundreds of famous and well-regarded works of science fiction and fantasy, summarizing plots and analyzing the works in terms of their contributions to literature.