That question popped into my mind yesterday. With the start of PulpFest 2014 less than a week away, I thought it might be a good idea to ponder it.
What if Frank Munsey‘s all-fiction magazine experiment in late 1896 had failed? What if readers never really took to the new Argosy, it folded or shifted back to a mix of fiction and non-fiction and slick paper, and the pulp era never began?
Fiction genres was not unique to the pulp magazines. Mystery, detective, hardboiled, western, adventure, romantic, science fiction, fantasy, horror, heroic, war — all of the genres that we think of as quintessential “pulp” existed in other media.
Yes, some of these genres grew into their own, thanks to the pulps. Science fiction and fantasy, in particular, come to mind (probably because I’ve engrossed in SF and fantasy history over the past couple of months due to putting together The Pulpster for PulpFest).
The “weird menace” genre, introduced by Henry Steeger‘s Popular Publications, might have existed only in the shudder pulps — even that was inspired by the horrific dramas of Paris’ Grand Guignol Theater.
These “pulp” genres, told in fast-paced fiction, appeared in books, papers, other magazines, and — eventually — radio, film and television. In a way, this addresses the “What is pulp?” question.
When you say “pulp,” what comes to mind? A specific type of story?
The real legacy of the pulp magazines isn’t a type of storytelling, but the writers and artists. The medium of the pulp magazine opened doors to fictioneers and illustrators who might otherwise never have had an opportunity to be published. (Admittedly, the pulp medium heavily exploited action-based or plot-driven fiction, but that type of fiction isn’t limited to the pulps — just think of the movie serials, for example.)
The most obvious illustration of this point is Robert E. Howard. He lived his whole life — a short 30 years — in Texas, around his hometown of Cross Plains. What if he had not discovered the colorfully covered magazines of adventure on the newsstands?
Howard still may have been inspired to write, but he wouldn’t necessarily have had an outlet for getting his stories published. His yarns of heroes, adventure and fantasy may have been tucked away in a drawer, to be thrown out as his father cleaned out the house after Howard’s and his mother’s deaths.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of writers and artists were put to work in the industry of the pulp magazines. Had the pulps not existed, some still may have found outlets in other media or in advertising; but many more whose output was not as polished as, say, Dashiell Hammett‘s or Norman Saunders‘ would never be known today.
So, what comes to your mind when you’re asked: What if the pulps had never existed?
I think the time for the pulps had come and if ARGOSY had failed in 1896, the pulp era still would have occurred with such later titles as SHORT STORIES, BLUE BOOK, THE POPULAR, and ADVENTURE. Why? Because there was an educated readership out there that had to have something to read such as action and adventure fiction. The dime novels and literary magazines such as SCRIBNERS, HARPERS, and THE CENTURY showed there was a market for fiction.
I mean think about it. In the late 1890’s and early 1900’s what did working people do in their leisure time? There were no movies to speak of, no radio, no TV, no internet or Facebook. No electronic gadgets to waste time. They read and the market was there for the fiction magazines. Blue collar and office workers needed magazines to read after work and thus the pulps were born. Munsey knew this and that’s why he created the first all fiction magazine.
It had to be a success because the market was there. No way could the pulps have not existed.
You’re right, of course, Walker. Just because, say, Munsey might have failed with Argosy doesn’t mean that someone else wouldn’t have succeeded. And there was a reading public waiting for new fiction.
I was just speculating, and trying to drum up some discussion.
I’m glad you asked the question and like you, I’m always hoping for more discussion about the pulps. Soon we may not even have the 5 remaining fiction digest magazines.