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Works about this Work
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‘An Explosive Novel of Strange Passions’ : Horwitz Publications and Australia’s Pulp Modernism
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , 19 December vol. 34 no. 2 2020;'The scant academic attention Australia’s pulp publishing industry has received to date tends to focus on pulp as a quickly and cheaply made form of disposable entertainment, sold to non-elite audiences. This paper will examine Australian pulp fiction from a different standpoint, one which links New Modernist Studies and the history of the book. This approach, referred to as pulp modernism, is used to question the separation of low and high publishing culture, dominant for much of the twentieth century. I apply this methodology to late-1950s and early-1960s Australian pulp fiction by examining the Name Author series released by Sydney-based Horwitz Publications, one of the largest pulp paperback publishers in the decades after World War II. The series took prominent mid-century Australian authors and republished them in paperback with covers featuring highly salacious images and text. The series offers a glimpse into a uniquely Australian version of pulp modernism. It also yields valuable insights into the changing dynamics of local publishing and literary reputation in mid-century Australia, and the little researched operations of Horwitz Publications.' (Publication abstract)
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Crikey it’s Bromance : A History of Australian Pulp Westerns
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Sold by the Millions : Australia's Bestsellers 2012; (p. 141-161) ‘The Australian version of the Western novel is the subject matter of Toni Johnson-Woods’ chapter. Western as a genre was present in Australia since colonial times – a ‘romance of property’ (Dixon 22). She takes up Len Meares, the man behind Marshall Grover as her case study. Perhaps the most intriguing part of her chapter is the study of book covers, as she argues that ‘books are more than printed codex; they are cultural products with covers, advertising, pricing and distribution.’ For Johnson-Woods, “the covers are semiotically charged marketing tools; the artwork, design and titles emit generic and cultural messages.” Australian Western authors, some of the most prolific authors, have been writing not only for an Australian readership but also for an international one. In conclusion Johnson-Woods laments that “I doubt if you’ll shake their hands or sign their books at writers’ festivals. It is not that they are not likeable people. They are tainted with a fatal literary disease, they’re carriers of the popular fiction virus. And even more condemning, they do not even write ‘respectable’ popular fiction like detective fiction – they write politically incorrect masculinist westerns. Regardless of how literary critics assess their contribution to Australian fiction, they provide hours of entertainment for their many readers.”’ (Editor’s foreword xiii) -
Australian Pulp: An Interview with Graeme Flanagan
2009
single work
interview
— Appears in: Studies in Australian Weird Fiction , no. 3 2009; (p. 131-140) -
Beaten to the Pulp
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 29 June 2005; (p. 12) -
Stranger than Fiction?
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: Good Weekend , 23 July 1994; (p. 12)
— Review of The Australian Vintage Paperback Guide 1994 single work bibliography
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Stranger than Fiction?
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: Good Weekend , 23 July 1994; (p. 12)
— Review of The Australian Vintage Paperback Guide 1994 single work bibliography -
Beaten to the Pulp
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 29 June 2005; (p. 12) -
Australian Pulp: An Interview with Graeme Flanagan
2009
single work
interview
— Appears in: Studies in Australian Weird Fiction , no. 3 2009; (p. 131-140) -
Crikey it’s Bromance : A History of Australian Pulp Westerns
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Sold by the Millions : Australia's Bestsellers 2012; (p. 141-161) ‘The Australian version of the Western novel is the subject matter of Toni Johnson-Woods’ chapter. Western as a genre was present in Australia since colonial times – a ‘romance of property’ (Dixon 22). She takes up Len Meares, the man behind Marshall Grover as her case study. Perhaps the most intriguing part of her chapter is the study of book covers, as she argues that ‘books are more than printed codex; they are cultural products with covers, advertising, pricing and distribution.’ For Johnson-Woods, “the covers are semiotically charged marketing tools; the artwork, design and titles emit generic and cultural messages.” Australian Western authors, some of the most prolific authors, have been writing not only for an Australian readership but also for an international one. In conclusion Johnson-Woods laments that “I doubt if you’ll shake their hands or sign their books at writers’ festivals. It is not that they are not likeable people. They are tainted with a fatal literary disease, they’re carriers of the popular fiction virus. And even more condemning, they do not even write ‘respectable’ popular fiction like detective fiction – they write politically incorrect masculinist westerns. Regardless of how literary critics assess their contribution to Australian fiction, they provide hours of entertainment for their many readers.”’ (Editor’s foreword xiii) -
‘An Explosive Novel of Strange Passions’ : Horwitz Publications and Australia’s Pulp Modernism
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , 19 December vol. 34 no. 2 2020;'The scant academic attention Australia’s pulp publishing industry has received to date tends to focus on pulp as a quickly and cheaply made form of disposable entertainment, sold to non-elite audiences. This paper will examine Australian pulp fiction from a different standpoint, one which links New Modernist Studies and the history of the book. This approach, referred to as pulp modernism, is used to question the separation of low and high publishing culture, dominant for much of the twentieth century. I apply this methodology to late-1950s and early-1960s Australian pulp fiction by examining the Name Author series released by Sydney-based Horwitz Publications, one of the largest pulp paperback publishers in the decades after World War II. The series took prominent mid-century Australian authors and republished them in paperback with covers featuring highly salacious images and text. The series offers a glimpse into a uniquely Australian version of pulp modernism. It also yields valuable insights into the changing dynamics of local publishing and literary reputation in mid-century Australia, and the little researched operations of Horwitz Publications.' (Publication abstract)
