Course:LIBR548F/2010WT1/Queer Pulp Fiction

Sinclaire, Marianne. The Corruption of Innocence. New York: MacFadden Bartell, 1964. (Image from Mount Saint Vincent University)

Queer Pulp Fiction

Beginning in the 1930s, the publishing industry began the mass-production of cheaply produced paperbacks for cheap sale. These paperbacks were called pulp novels, a nod to the low-grade paper they were printed on. In addition to increased production, pulp novels enjoyed increased distribution and were sold in supermarkets, drugstores and train stations, expanding their reach.

A popular genre of pulp novels was the exploitation novel. Michael Bronski writes, "Original novels focusing on illegal or taboo sex... represent, beneath a veneer of enticing exploitation, a compendium of the not-so-hidden preoccupations and fears of the tempestuous and socially unstable postwar years." Bronski goes on to describe queer pulp fiction as a sub-genre of the exploitation novel. These novels, varied in writing quality and levels of overt sexuality, featured stories that were often formulaic—lesbian pulps typically featured a woman entering a period of transition and self-discovery, which opens her up to the possibility of same-sex relations. Gay pulps commonly featured bisexual love triangles, making readers wonder which bed the protagonist would end up in—the woman's or the man's.

American Conservatism and Censorship

The 1950s were marked with conservatism, anti-homosexual rhetoric and policies, in the public sphere. In the political realm, McCarthyism produced a "pink scare," where homosexuals, along with Communists and other "undesirables," were investigated for anti-Americanism. This conservative atmosphere had a marked effect on the tone of queer pulp novels.

Many of the queer pulp novels produced in the 1950s turned their homosexual protagonists into tragic figures—condemning them to suicide, or, having them understand the "virtues" of heterosexuality. One reason for this is the fact that the majority of publishers were heterosexual. For lesbian pulp novels, some of the homophobia present may be explained by the fact that many of these novels were written by heterosexual men—a trait not present in gay pulp, where the majority of pulp novels were written by gay men. However, the tragic endings afforded to many homosexual characters in pulp stemmed from the fear of being slapped with obscenity charges. As Theophano explains, "one of the most interesting aspects of the pulps is the tension that often resulted from the [lesbian] authors' attempts to present lesbian love sympathetically while also adhering to the publishers' demands that the novels serve a cautionary purpose and end unhappily." The tragic ending was viewed as necessary, because allowing homosexual protagonists a happy, homosexual ending was considered obscene.

In a notable example of America's conservative political atmosphere's impact on queer pulps, Tereska Torres's book, Women's Barracks (1950), was used as an exhibit by the U.S. house of Representatives' Select Committee on Current Pornographic Materials. The congressmen who utilized the novel as an exhibit refused to read excerpts of the book on the House floor, believing the content too obscene to enter in the official Congressional record. This event, Stryker notes, "created a climate of fear in the publishing industry by threatening fines and jail terms for those who refused to embrace the Committee's vision of morality." As a result, the sexual content of queer pulps was toned down and the tragic endings for homosexual protagonists was emphasized.

Despite the unhappy endings present in many queer pulps, they still served as invaluable resources for gays and lesbians—if one knew how to read between the lines. Even the tragic endings could be viewed as sympathetic—in Fritz Peters' Finistere, among others, the main character's suicide can be read as a result of society's intolerance, rather than an inherent defect in homosexuals. Additionally, "Hidden within their plots and their characters' lives were maps, hints, and clues that told gay men how they might live their lives." Despite the tragedy, these novels provided insight into the gay scene in their description of fashion, bars, clubs, bathhouses and the like.

Gay vs. Lesbian Pulp

There were significant differences between pulp novels featuring gay and lesbian themes. Lesbian pulp novels were published in greater numbers than gay pulps, for several reasons. Lesbian pulp novels enjoyed a significantly larger market than gay pulp novels. As Keller writes, "the lesbians depicted were still women—which meant... that they were still sexually available to men and, moreover, nonthreatening to depict (to heterosexual men, of course)." Additionally, it was easier for men to enter the realm of mainstream publishing than women. This meant that many novels with gay themes were published in hardcover, rather than paperback, while lesbian-themed novels were relegated to alternative publishing houses.

Selected Special Collections

Today, queer pulps are valued for the insight they provide into gay and lesbian life in the 1950s and 60s. The publishing of queer pulps is tied into the conservative political atmosphere of 1950s America, as well as the struggle for gay rights and freedom of speech. As such, collections of queer pulps are featured in a number of special collections in North America—predominantly housed in universities with a strong Gender and Sexuality Studies department.

Canada

Lesbian Pulp Fiction Collection, Special Collections, Mount Saint Vincent University (Halifax, NS) [1]

Saskatchewan Resources for Sexual Diversity, University of Saskatchewan Library (Saskatoon, SK) [2]

United States

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies, Special Collections, University of Wisconsin (Madison, WI) [3]

James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center, San Francisco Public Library (San Francisco, CA) [4]

Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History & Culture, Duke University (Durham, NC) [5]

Further Reading

1. Bronski, Michael. Pulp Friction: Uncovering the Golden Age of Gay Male Pulps. New York: St. Martin's, 2003.
   Pulp Friction is an anthology comprising of chapters of selected gay pulps, interwoven with analyses that connect the text with broader themes in gay pulps and the society they were created in.
2. Smith, Patricia Juliana, ed. The Queer Sixties. New York: Routledge, 1999.
   A compilation of essays on queer life in the sixties, this book features two essays that focus on queer pulps. The first, "Pulp Politics," focuses on lesbian pulps, while the second, "The Cultural Work of Sixties Gay Pulp Fiction," analyzes gay pulps.
3. Stryker, Susan. Queer Pulp: Perverted Passions from the Golden Age of the Paperback. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2001.
   Queer Pulp provides a broad perspective on queer pulps, featuring chapters on bisexual and transgender pulps, in addition to gay and lesbian pulps. It is also richly illustrated with numerous queer pulp covers.