Pulp Fiction

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course will investigate the highly stylized world of popular fiction, including the literary genres of the western, the adventure story, hard-boiled detective fiction, true crime, the historical romance, the suspense thriller, sci-fi and fantasy. We will observe the beginnings of pulp fiction from the dime novels and the penny dreadfuls in the 19th century to the literary boom of pulp fiction in the 1920s and 1930s. We will be connecting major themes in popular fiction to the growth of old time radio programs and to the study of manga, media, television and film and will be watching a series of documentaries and analyzing pulp magazine jackets. Pulp fiction writers may include Edgar Rice Burroughs, Zane Grey, Dashiell Hammett, Mickey Spillane, Ted Chiang, Koushun Takami, Truman Capote, Margaret Atwood and J. K. Rowling.