In the wake of World War I, America’s writers turned from the battlefields of Europe to the “mean streets” of modern cities—discovering new voices, new languages, and a new kind of storytelling. This course explores the rise of pulp fiction, a genre once dismissed as lowbrow but now recognized as a bold reflection of American life. We’ll trace how H. L. Mencken’s The Black Mask magazine became the proving ground for writers like Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ernest Hemingway, who transformed tales of detectives, crime, and corruption into literature of grit and insight. Together, we’ll examine how pulp’s plainspoken language and sharp style captured a uniquely American sensibility—where the streets became “No Man’s Land,” and high and low culture collided. Discover how pulp fiction reshaped modern storytelling and revealed the restless, violent, and creative heart of 20th-century America.
Required Reading
Chandler, Raymond. The Big Sleep. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1939.
———. Farewell, My Lovely. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1940.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925.
Hammett, Dashiell. The Maltese Falcon. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1930.
Macdonald, Ross. The Chill. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1964.
Mosley, Walter. Devil in a Blue Dress. New York: W. W. Norton, 1990.
Neeley, Barbara. Blanche on the Lam. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992.
Paretsky, Sara. Killing Orders. New York: Delacorte Press, 1985.
Roth, Philip. The Human Stain. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.
Thompson, Jim. Pop. 1280. Greenwich, CT: Gold Medal Books, 1964.
Meet Your Instructor
CHARLES SCRUGGS is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of American literature at the University of Arizona. He has written books and articles on African-American Literature and film, and he is presently working on a book on Claude McKay, a Harlem Renaissance novelist and poet. He has also published articles on Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, Ernest Hemingway, John Fowles, Raymond Chandler, Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and American film.
Location
POETRY CENTER
Dorothy Rubel Room
1508 E Helen
Tucson, AZ 85721
United States
Located on the SE corner of Helen Street and Vine Avenue, one block north of Speedway and three blocks west of Campbell Ave.
