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pulp fiction: Literature that thrills.

Cool Books for Hot WeatherIt's Pulp Fiction week at Slate.


Updated Friday, May 26, 2006, at 6:30 AM ET

Welcome to Slate's first Pulp Fiction week. Summer is around the corner, and what better than a Dashiell Hammett novel to keep you cool under the hot sun? This week we'll publish a host of articles about pulp novels past and present. The week kicks off with a lament for the decline of the true "pulp" magazines, and a roundup of writers, critics, and editors telling us what they read on the beach. (Confessions were strongly encouraged.)

And that's just the beginning. We'll also have valentines to our favorite pulp writers and our take on why certain literary heavyweights really ought to be called pulp novelists. Enjoy.

Tuesday

"My Favorite Beach Book: What Scott Turow, Joyce Carol Oates, and Michael Connelly read on vacation." Posted May 23, 2006.

"Requiem for Pulp Fiction: The bygone days of seedy literature," by Bryan Curtis. Posted May 23, 2006.

"Pulp Valentine: Patricia Highsmith's erotic lesbian thriller," by Terry Castle. Posted May 23, 2006.

Wednesday

"Pulp Valentine: Donald Westlake's Parker novels are a genre of their own," by John Banville. Posted May 24, 2006.

"Purloined Poe: Fact is invading fiction," by Christopher Benfey. Posted May 24, 2006.

"Pulp Valentine: Erskine Caldwell's lurid vision of the American South," by Dwight Garner. Posted May 24, 2006.

Thursday

"Pulp Valentine: My love affair with Mildred Pierce," by Laura Lippman. Posted May 25, 2006.

"The Pulp Canon: Lurid new covers for The Iliad, Little Women, and other classics." Posted May 25, 2006.

"Pulp Valentine: Eric Ambler and the invention of the spy novel," by Stephen Metcalf. Posted May 25, 2006.

Friday

"The New Gossip Novels: Just asking: What do Page Six veterans think they can do for literature? by Troy Patterson. Posted May 26, 2006.

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