CFP: Pulp Magazine Studies Area / PCA/ACA conference (Nov 1; Apr 16-19)

Call for Proposals

Pulp Magazine Studies Area

Popular Culture/American Culture Association

National Conference

Chicago, IL

April 16-19, 2014

 

Pulp magazines were a series of mostly English-language, predominantly American, magazines printed on rough pulp paper.  They were often illustrated with highly stylized, full-page cover art and numerous line art illustrations of the fictional content.  They were sold for modest sums, and were targeted at (sometimes specialized) readerships of popular literature, such as western and adventure, detective, fantastic (including the evolving genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror), romance and sports fiction. The first pulp Argosy, began life as the children’s magazine The Golden Argosy, dated Dec 2, 1882 and the last of the “original” pulps was Ranch Romances and Adventures, Nov. 1971.

 

The Pulp Studies area exists to support the academic study of pulp writers, editors, readers, and culture.  It seeks to invigorate research by bringing together scholars from diverse areas including romance, western, science fiction, fantasy, horror, adventure, detective, and more.  Finally, the Pulp Studies area seeks to promote the preservation of the pulps through communication with libraries, museums, and collectors.

 

With this in mind, we are calling for papers and panels that discuss the pulps and their legacy.  Suggested authors and topics:

• Magazines:  Amazing Stories, Weird Tales, Wonder Stories, Fight Stories, All-Story, Argosy, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Spicy Detective, Ranch Romances and Adventures, Oriental Stories/Magic Carpet Magazine, Love Story, Flying Aces, Black Mask, and Unknown, to name a few.
• Editors and Owners:  Street and Smith (Astounding), Munsey (Argosy), Farnsworth Wright (Weird Tales), Hugo Gernsback (Amazing Stories), Mencken and Nathan (Black Mask), John Campbell (Astounding).
• Influential Writers:  H.P. Lovecraft, A. E. Merritt, Robert E. Howard, C. L. Moore, Fritz Leiber, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Donald Wandrei, Clark Ashton Smith, and Henry Kuttner. 
• Influences on Pulp Writers:  Robert Bloch, H. Rider Haggard, Arthur Conan Doyle, Jack London, and Edgar Rice Burroughs were all influences, along with literary and philosophical figures such as Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Friedrich Nietzsche, Edgar Allen Poe, and Herbert Spencer.
• Popular Characters:  Conan of Cimmeria; Bulldog Drummond; Doc Savage; Solomon Kane; Buck Rogers; The Domino Lady; Jiril of Jiory; Zorro; El Borak; The Shadow; The Spider; Nick Carter; The Avenger; and Captain Future, among others.  Also character types: the femme fatale, the he-man, the trickster, racism and villainy (such as Charles Middleton’s Ming the Merciless), and more.
• Artists:  Popular cover artists including Margaret Brundage (Weird Tales), Frank R. Paul (Amazing Stories), Virgil Finlay (Weird Tales), and Edd Cartier (The Shadow, Astounding).
• Theme and Styles:  Masculinity, femininity, and sex as related to the heroic in the pulps; the savage as hero, the woman as hero, the trickster as hero, etc.
• Film, Television and Graphic Arts:  Pulps in film, television, comics, graphic novels and other forms are especially encouraged.
• Cyberculture:  Cyberpulps such as Beneath Ceaseless Skies and pulp-influenced games such as the Age of Conan MMORPG or the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game.
• International Pulp Fiction:  During the interwar period and after WWII American-style pulp fiction inspired native pulp traditions in Australia, Britain, and continental Europe.  Submissions covering pulp magazines, paperbacks, and writers in languages other than English are especially encouraged.

These are but suggestions for potential panels and presentations.  Proposals on other topics are welcome.

 

For general information on the Pulp Studies area, please visit our website:  http://pulpstudies.weebly.com/

 

Final Submission Deadline: November 1, 2013

 

How to Submit Proposals:  Submit proposals through the following website:  http://ncp.pcaaca.org/

Note:  Only papers submitted through the website will appear in the conference program.  If you have any questions, please contact the Pulp Studies area coordinators:

 

Justin Everett - University of the Sciences - j.everet@usciences.edu

Jeffrey Shanks - Southeast Archaeological Center - jeffrey_shanks@nps.gov