This course descends into the lurid world of pulp fiction in the early twentieth century, torches in hand, to explore the emergence of sensational genres such as crime, horror, science fiction, and fantasy adventure, in literature and comics. We will study them, curse them, and revel in them as outlandish experiments with normative ways of thinking about self and society, rivalling those of the high-culture avant-garde. We’ll consult mad scientists, muscled barbarians, woman robots, tentacled monsters, femme fatales, and many more denizens of this barely restrained, modern imagination.
Assessment
Evaluation is likely to be based on weekly short analyses (25%), one or two seminar presentations (25%), and a final research paper or (e.g. if you want to write your own pulp) creative research project (50%).
