Cult Fiction: Popular Reading and Pulp Theory

by Clive Bloom

Here is an exploration of pulp literature and pulp an investigation into the nature and theory of the contemporary mind in art and in life. Here too, the violent, the sensational and the erotic signify different facets of the modern experience plays out in the gaudy pages of kitsch literature. Clive Bloom offers the reader a chance to investigate the underworld of literary production and from it find a new set of co-ordinates for questions regarding publishing and reading practices in America and Britain, ideas of genre, problems related to commercial production, concerns regarding high and low culture, the canon and censorship, as well as a discussion of the rhetoric of current critical debate. Concentrating on remembered authors as well as many long regarded or forgotten, Cult Fiction provides a theory of kitsch art that radically alters our perceptions of literature and literary values while providing a panorama of an almost forgotten the history of pulp.

Genres: Nonfiction

255 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite enjoyed reading this despite it being a more academic read than my usual fare. The author makes such a strong call for pulp fiction to be cult fiction that the book might have been better titled 'pulp fiction'. Whilst there is a semi-chronological study between chapters of the rise of the printing press as a conduit for the popularity of cult fiction, each chapter often feels dumped in its own right, and some of the connections are sparse at best. The author obviously also has a disdain for feminist criticism (at least, in my reading), which reared it's head now and again. Generally though, he feels well informed.

Whilst Cult Fiction discusses books in broad terms, there are chapters devoted to certain works/authors within a historical contest (the Fu Manchu novels, Lovecraft, a few pages on the Hank Janson trial, writings around Jack The Ripper and how those have permeated til the present day). I tended to find these of most interest.

The final chapter wraps it up rather quickly, and there is a discernible change in style as the author fires quotable phrases at the reader - whether deliberately or otherwise - mimicking the style of pulp, so that his conclusion that literary criticism (with postmodern theory being inherently nostalgic towards pulp) is basically the new pulp/cult fiction in itself isn't exactly surprising, but does draw a satisfied smile in a work which can otherwise be quite dry.

[Rich Musick · Rating 2 out of 5]

In spite of large segments of incoherent rambling, it was a good introduction to pulp literature theory.

[Kayla · Rating 1 out of 5]

a bit dry.