AMERICA’S “PULPS”

Taranaki Daily News, 14 November 1934, Page 11

AMERICA’S “PULPS”

DAY DREAMS FOR MASSES FLOOD OF CHEAP MAGAZINES. DUMPING OF BACK NUMBERS. (By Maire M. Arthur.) From reliable, sources of information it is learned that well over half a million copies of American back date magazines are dumped in New Zealand annually. They swarm over the news stands, banal and blatant. In America they are known, as “Pulps”, because they are printed on • the very cheapest of pulp paper. No other nation possesses such a mountain of cheap literature. ’ ■ They are really descended from the. old thrillers of the 1880’s. The original idea was presumably to supply reading matter for those who had not the mental stamina to wade through the cheaper novels, and again the novels of those days were inordinately long and much patience was required in the perusal of them. . . One of the original“ American thrillers was called “The Black Cat.” Its principal author was one Judge Crandall. He led a very gay life, went to bed very early in the morning and in consequence of his immoderation had nightmares. These he wrote down as stories for “The Black Cat.” His doctor warned him against a nervous breakdown but he still kept on writing and dreaming and eventually justified the doctor’s forebodings. After the war the publishing of cheap magazines proceeded apace and in 1928 it was said that the circulation was twenty million a month. This tremendous circulation is now lowered owing to the depression and the depression and the - ; val motion picture magazines. However, there still exists about fifty, of the cheaper magazines, any one of which has a much wider circulation than a quality magazine. MYSTERY AUTHORS. The people who write for the “Pulps” are somewhat of a mystery; even the editors scarcely know who they are, for they seldom sign their real names. The authors are dependant for their prosperity upon the speed with which they write, since they are paid by the word. Hence they have developed what is probably the fastest rate of literary-creation in history. One favourite writer is said to produce his stories so swiftly that the sub-editors dread having to handle. them because the manuscript is so extraordinarily bad. The trouble is that he does not take time to read over what he has written; he is likely to get well into a sentence, forget how it started, and leave it dangling in mid-air without a verb or a predicate. The editors can tell when he interrupts a story to go to lunch,- because, when he resumes the story he frequently has forgotten which character is which and is likely to get hero - and the villain mixed up. TRICKS OF THE TRADE. Numerous tricks of the trade make life easier for the experienced “Pulp” writers, and they- exchange their knowledge in a truly fraternal spirit. They e - atmosphere with- each other. If a man wishes to write a sea story , and has never been to sea that does riot deter him; he writes to a fellow writer who has published sea stories and asks him for a glossary of terms and a few saltwater superstitions. In return he sends a corresponding data sheet on horse racing so that the sea-story author can write a horsey story and make his next hero a jockey if he They have also a trade journal which makes a business ot supplying atmosphere. It prints special articles dealing, with the terminology of the sea, the stage, the air, prison life etc. and plots are given. One seasoned fiction writer admitted that he had for years drawn his plots out of the Bible. He put his stories into modem dress and sold them to practically every magazine published in English. 4 , W This mass production by the “Pulps has made .possible the standardisation of fiction.' They' represent the incursion’ of the machine age into the art of storytelling. Definite specifications have been formulated into a series of editorial rules, both commands and taboos, which assure the essential sameness of all the stories. In these magazines the heroines are always beautiful, pure -and young and have no sense of humour; the men are always “he” men of the “wide open spaces,” ..virile and handsome. War is never unpleasant but always “a glorious adventure,” and depression does not exist. When Mr. Hoover held office he convened a “committe on social trends.” This committee sat in judgment on these magazines, solemnly looking for what they called “attitude indication,” which would reveal approval or disapproval of religion and moral standards. The committee was pleasantly surprised and pleased to note that the majority of the magazines were most conservative. Two hundred and three “indicators” showed disapproval of loose relations, drinking, stealing etc., whilst only 31 condoned such moral laxity. Indeed it was found that the so-called quality magazines were less moral in tone than the “Pulps.” But the editors of the pulps know what they are about. They know that virture pays. LIBRARY’S OPINIONS. The New York public library after grave consideration gave the “Pulps” a place in their institution. They are not for casual circulation, because the library feels that its periodical section should be occupied by magazines of better taste. But although they are out of right they are there and anyone seriously bent can have access to them. The library solemnly binds and puts away these magazines in the belief that they contain valuable sidelights on the social history of the twentieth century. Future sociologists will thus be able to study the day dreams of the masses in the twentieth century. The British Government has imposed a prohibitive dumping duty on the “Pulps and the Customs in New Zealand is being asked to consider the same prohibition. It is claimed that the magazines lower the general standard of readers and have bad moral effects. By whatever standards they are judged they are really rubbish.