Gay pulp fiction
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Many feminist of color and lesbian feminist scholars—such as Audre Lorde, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Hortense Spillers—have discussed the ways in which sex, gender, sexuality, and race are often co-contingent. and Vin Packer's Spring Fire in 1952 became surprise best-sellers.
The second aspect of "Queer Pulp Paperbacks" worth discussing is the word "queer," which at the time was exclusively a slur.
Particularly, Tereska Torrès's Women's Barracks in 1950, which was targeted by a House Committee on obscene materials despite its tame content.
Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2002. Titles may be located in Special Collections, in Main, or in the Fine Arts Library.
- 1960s Gay Pulp Fiction: The Misplaced Heritage. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2001. The unique ability of paperback publishers to solicit and edit original manuscripts to avoid obscenity charges while appealing to public interest led to the formation of the genre proper.
Rather, the reason stems from how lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are discussed in these books in a way that blurs the lines between gender, sex, and sexuality. (SPC)
- Out/lines: Underground Gay Graphics from before Stonewall. Manuscripts cannot be used for publication without regard for common law literary rights, copyright laws and the laws of libel.
The lower cost of production and use of magazine and newspaper distribution networks resulted in a movement of fiction from bookstores, which were more expensive and uncommon outside of big cities, to grocery stores, drug stores, newspaper stands, and other places that were more accessible to working class populations.
Pocket Books began to use these methods to publish paperback reprints of hardcover books in 1939, and their popularity resulted in other publishers (including many who had roots in pulp magazine publication, such as Greenleaf) soliciting original work for publication.
Albion, NY: MLR Press, 2009. Manuscripts. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2013. (SPC, Fine Arts)
- Pulp Friction: Uncovering the Golden Age of Gay Male Pulps.
Literary Rights
Literary rights were not granted to Wichita State University. This legacy is why paperback originals, specifically those published over the 1950s and 1960s, are often called "pulps." Gay and lesbian pulps further fit into this legacy due to the way their marginality as "low culture" allowed them to venture into less socially accepted terrain.
When permission is granted to examine the manuscripts, it is not an authorization to publish them. Drewey Wayne Gunn and Jaime Harker. Michael Bronski. Thomas Waugh. They range in date from 1933-1997 with the bulk published during 1953-1997. Scholars and students who eventually plan to have their work published are urged to make inquiry regarding overall restrictions on publication before initial research.
Full Extent
.5 Linear Feet (1 box)
Language of Materials
English
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquired from Mark Sieling/Priapean Books, 2003
Separated Materials
The pulps are cataloged in Special Collections’ Rare Books, Call No.
6482.
Processing Information
JCM, MN, LW and AV, 2018-03
- Title
- Gay Pulp Fiction Collection
- Author
- JCM, MN, AV and SBA
- Date
- 2018-03
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Gay Pulp Fiction Collection, MS-2018-02.
A small number of lesbian-interest titles are included. (Main)