iPulp Fiction discussion

Hello.

Currently I am kinda curious about the proper meaning of "pulp" in "pulp fiction" or "pulp stories". I know that the word "pulp" stems from the material the early pulp-fiction was printed on. And I also understand that usually pulp-stories or pulp-fiction can be of almost any genre. But I would like to know what kind of stereotypes or archetypes in antagonists and protagonists, what tropes, what kind of plots etc. makes the "typical", "good", or "entertaining", or far more abstract the pulp story in its most proper or best sense?

I have tried to find help via wikipedia and google-fu. But both left me kind of clueless. Maybe you can help me? Your help is much appreciated. Thank you very much!

Best wishes!
Liam

Pulp magazines came into popularity in the 1920s and didn't decline until after WWII. They were generally printed as a digest size on cheap wood pulp paper. The genres were wide from Romance, Adventure to Science Fiction. A good example of some of the titles were Weird Tales, Doc Savage, The Shadow and The Spider. There were many titles to choose from that can be still found on Amazon like Captain Future.

To answer your question: the staff writers of these stories follow a formula to fulfill their monthly commitments. Typically there was one main protagonist and one to several supporting protagonists. Many follow the strong male lead and supporting servant (think Kato in the Green Hornet) and usually a female hopelessly in love with the leading man. The antagonist generally was only one evil male character with a staff of flunkies. This worked for Doc Savage (although he never acknowledged the female characters as love interests), The Shadow, The Avenger, The Spider and Captain Future. Some pulp magazines defy being categorized like Weird Tales (where Robert E. Howard of Conan the Barbarian fame) had many and varied themes. All that mattered was a sense of the macabre.

Hope this helps.

I'm a local author in Chandler and I've extensively read the above pulps and some of the best mystery stories from that period. -- Scott