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Lesbian pulp fiction refers to any mid-20th century of earlier decades). These books were sold at Drugstore s, Magazine Stand s, Bus Terminal s and other places where one might look to purchase cheap, consumable entertainment. The books were small enough to fit in a purse or back pocket and cheap enough to throw away when the reader was through with it. DEVELOPMENT OF THE GENRE In the 20th century, only a Handful Of Books were published that addressed lesbians as characters in relationships with women. However, after World War II, there appeared a subversive trend in publishing that allowed for books to be written, cheaply produced, and widely distributed that addressed "dirty" topics like drugs, gangs, white slavery, crime, murder, and Homosexuality . Because the literature wasn't respected, neither was it censored. In terms of lesbian fiction, these books were the only ones available to many people in many locations who had no prior access to information or stories that involved lesbian characters. Hundreds of titles were published in this genre between 1955-1969, and millions of them were sold. However prevalent the books were, purchasing and reading them for many women was the equivalent to Coming Out to the cashier. Author Joan Nestle called them "survival books" and described purchasing them:
''Women's Barracks'' The first pulp to address a lesbian relationship was published as early as 1950 with '' Women's Barracks '' by Tereska Torres which was a fictionalized account of Torres' time in the French Army during World War II. ''Women's Barracks'' sold 4 million copies and was selected in 1952 to become an example of how paperback books were promoting moral degeneracy, by the House Select Committee On Current Pornographic Materials http://www.frontlist.com/detail/155861494X. ''Spring Fire'' and the establishment of a formula '' Spring Fire '' by Marijane Meaker writing as Vin Packer is generally considered to be the first lesbian pulp novel, since the plot focused on the relationship of the two main characters, as opposed to the various relationships examined in ''Women's Barracks''. ''Spring Fire'', which was published by Gold Medal Books in 1952 and sold more than 1.5 million copies, is about two college girls, Mitch and Leda, who fall in love and have an affair. The tragic endings of ''Women's Barracks'' and ''Spring Fire'' (suicide and insanity) are typical of lesbian pulp novels. Meaker was told by her editor that because the books traveled through the mail and anything sent through the U.S. Postal Service was subject to government Censorship , publishers had to make sure that the books seemed in no way to proselytize Homosexuality Packer, Vin. Spring Fire, Introduction. 2004, Cleis Press. No character was allowed to be both homosexual and happy at the book's end. A character had to either turn straight and end up coupled with a man or, if she remained homosexual, suffer death, insanity or some equally unappealing fate. Although originally published in hardback and technically not a pulp novel (although quickly became available in paperback form), the first exception to this formula is the book '' The Price Of Salt '' written by Patricia Highsmith under the pen name Claire Morgan. Throughout the genre, satisfactory endings for women who accepted their homosexuality were rare. It saw a decline due to the emergence of feminist publishers such as Naiad Press , mainstream publishers accepting lesbian themed books such as Doubleday publishing '' Rubyfruit Jungle '' in 1973, and the growth of the pornographic industry for those that served to be more graphic in nature than focusing on the relationships of the women in the stories. As well, common plot points in the books included women who were coming to terms with realizing their attraction to women in a world that did not allow it. With the rise of feminism, these plot points were decreasingly relevant. CONTENT Content and quality of the books varied widely. Authors of lesbian pulps were both male and female, and often used Psuedonyms - the male authors frequently used female names. "The vast majority of these lesbian novels were written by men, designed to fulfill straight men's fantasies...But perhaps 40 or 50 lesbian (pulp) novels were written by women, and were also good enough to becoming underground classics...The pulps also reached isolated, small-town lesbians who could read them and see that they were not the only lesbians in the world."Yusba, Roberta, "Twilight Tales: Lesbian Pulps 1950-1960," ''On Our Backs'', 2.1 Summer, 1985: p. 30. Lesbian pulps were written by earnest lesbian writers telling stories about women falling in love and navigating their way in relationships affected by a restrictive society, such as Ann Bannon , Marijane Meaker as Vin Packer and Ann Aldrich, Valerie Taylor , Marion Zimmer Bradley as Miriam Gardner, March Hastings , and Paula Christian ; as well as male or female authors who exploited the topic for its sensationalism, with marked differences between how positively lesbians were portrayed. COVER ART Lesbian pulp novels typically had lurid, titillating cover art. Although many women (lesbian and otherwise) bought and read these novels, book publishers marketed them to men as erotic fantasy. Covers might have a few provocative lines of text meant to draw attention to the sexy and scandalous nature of what was between the covers. Publishers inserted words such as "twilight", "odd", "strange", "shadows" and "queer" in the titles of these books, which made it easy for a consumer to guess what might be inside. SEE ALSO Lesbian Literature EXTERNAL LINKS
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