"Some people would say it's the absolute example of low culture,"
Jan Zauha said about pulp fiction magazines, a type of literature
that flourished from about 1900 to 1950.
But that's exactly the reason that the "pulps," as they're
sometimes called, should be preserved, said Zauha, a librarian at
Montana State University-Bozeman. Just as MSU historians use
welfare records to understand poverty in early America and shawls
to find out more about India, Zauha believes pulp fiction reveals
the attitudes, habits and language of their readers.
"They are a key to what people who were not privileged were
reading during the first half of the 20th century," Zauha
explained. "The loss of these items would be a real gap.
"They are also important records of magazine production and genre
fiction development in the U.S., and as such are increasingly
valued by scholars of American fiction or of American culture in
general," she said.
Pulp fiction received its name because it was printed on paper
made out of cheap wood pulp. It looks like newsprint and is
highly acidic. Based on the examples in Zauha's office, pulp
fiction magazines look like comic books from the outside. Their
covers are bold with dramatic colors. The titles scream
"Thrilling Wonder Stories" or "Famous Fantastic Mysteries." But
inside are no colors or comic strips. The occasional illustration
is black and white. The drawing power of the pulp magazines was
the fictional stories that filled them. Most stories were short,
some were long. None were politically correct by today's
standards.
"It's juicy," commented Bruce Morton, Dean of Libraries at
MSU-Bozeman.
Pulp fiction came before paperback novels, before most
television, and seemed to stem more from the love of a good story
- or bad story - than the Great Depression or worries about war,
Zauha continued.
"The bottom line is that people really love stories, and these
magazines fed that," she said.
Many pulp fiction writers were hacks who were paid by the word,
but others went on to become respected writers. Raymond Chandler
and Dashiell Hammett, for example, both had their start in pulp
fiction. Even science fiction and many popular hero figures like
Tarzan and The Shadow had their beginnings in the pulps, Zauha
said.
Because of a fellowship she received when she was still a
graduate student, Zauha became involved in a project to preserve
the pulp fiction collection of the Library of Congress. The
library has a collection because pulps were copyrighted, and the
library received issues on copyright deposit. The collection of
more than 15,000 issues, however, spends most of its time in
cardboard boxes in a Landover, Md. storage unit.
"You would see researchers who were real careful," Zauha
observed. "But as soon as they finished, you would see piles of
wood chips."
Zauha worked in the Library of Congress during the summer of
1992, looking through its pulp fiction collection. The collection
has since been microfilmed and Zauha is now creating a web site
to help browsers find out what's in the collection. She hopes to
have the web site ready by late January. The project is being
funded with a grant from the Office of Research, Creativity and
Technology Transfer at MSU.
"It (pulp fiction) is a specialized genre that often goes
overlooked," Morton continued. "... Her work is going to raise
its profile and make it more accessible."
Zauha said she doesn't defend the pulps as great literature.
"Some of them are complete trash," she admitted.
"But they have had more influence on your life than you realize,"
she said.
And they are a valuable resource for researchers.
As for her, Zauha said she is more interested in the issue of
preservation than the content of the pulp fiction publications
she collects. She does admit to one urge, though.
"I'm dying to go into Hollywood Detective' and read it."
