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<blockquote data-quote="madelf" data-source="post: 1642353" data-attributes="member: 15415">All right, if we want to define pulp as everything ever printed on cheap paper then the term is really meaningless. While accurate, it really doesn't say anything.There are many genres that were published in &quot;pulp&quot; magazines. There was adventure. There was also horror, western, fantasy, hardboiled detectives, romance, and apparently there was even swashbuckling.&nbsp;But (using my personal definitions at least) HP Lovecraft isn't pulp adventure.Westerns aren't pulp adventure.Conan isn't pulp adventureHard boiled detective fiction isn't pulp adventure.And romance stories are definitly not pulp adventure.Swashbuckling stories are not pulp adventure either (though they share a lot of similar themes, the time period throws it off)&nbsp;All of those may have been in magazines printed on pulp paper, but they aren't pulp adventure. They are genres in their own right, with their own terms. Doc Savage and Philip Marlowe are not within the same genre. And neither, I suspect, is Captain Blood.&nbsp;And it's really funny to me when something gets billed as &quot;pulp noir adventure&quot;, as pulp adventure and noir are almost mutually exclusive in my mind.&nbsp;To me pulp adventure is the bright eyed optimistic hero story, larger than life characters (often pratically superheroes), over the top villains, just plain fun adventure stories where the good guy always wins. Doc Savage and the Rocketeer are pulp adventure heroes.&nbsp;Noir fiction (or hardboiled if you prefer) is almost the dead opposite of pulp adventure. It's not an adventure, it's a struggle. The main characters are common, flawed individuals struggling to do the right thing in a harsh and dirty world that doesn't give a damn about their good intentions. Noir revels in gloom and pessimism with just that little glimmer of hope embodied in the little guy that does the right thing no matter how much he gets busted down for it. And even when he wins, it feels like something was lost. Nothing like pulp adventure at all. Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade are noir heroes.&nbsp;Maybe that helps to figure out where I'm coming from?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="madelf, post: 1642353, member: 15415"] All right, if we want to define pulp as everything ever printed on cheap paper then the term is really meaningless. While accurate, it really doesn't say anything. There are many genres that were published in "pulp" magazines. There was adventure. There was also horror, western, fantasy, hardboiled detectives, romance, and apparently there was even swashbuckling. But (using my personal definitions at least) HP Lovecraft isn't pulp adventure. Westerns aren't pulp adventure. Conan isn't pulp adventure Hard boiled detective fiction isn't pulp adventure. And romance stories are definitly not pulp adventure. Swashbuckling stories are not pulp adventure either (though they share a lot of similar themes, the time period throws it off) All of those may have been in magazines printed on pulp paper, but they aren't pulp adventure. They are genres in their own right, with their own terms. Doc Savage and Philip Marlowe are not within the same genre. And neither, I suspect, is Captain Blood. And it's really funny to me when something gets billed as "pulp noir adventure", as pulp adventure and noir are almost mutually exclusive in my mind. To me pulp adventure is the bright eyed optimistic hero story, larger than life characters (often pratically superheroes), over the top villains, just plain fun adventure stories where the good guy always wins. Doc Savage and the Rocketeer are pulp adventure heroes. Noir fiction (or hardboiled if you prefer) is almost the dead opposite of pulp adventure. It's not an adventure, it's a struggle. The main characters are common, flawed individuals struggling to do the right thing in a harsh and dirty world that doesn't give a damn about their good intentions. Noir revels in gloom and pessimism with just that little glimmer of hope embodied in the little guy that does the right thing no matter how much he gets busted down for it. And even when he wins, it feels like something was lost. Nothing like pulp adventure at all. Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade are noir heroes. Maybe that helps to figure out where I'm coming from? [/QUOTE]

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