Pulp Uncovered - a multi-part event that included a film festival, an exhibition and several speakers - was held last Thursday through Sunday.
The event kicked off Thursday evening with a keynote address from Pulp author and historian Will Murray on the evolution of Pulp fiction and its contributions to popular culture. Murray credited Pulp fiction with "the solidification of the genres that we now enjoy in books, TV and films," including the science fiction, detective, superhero, horror and Western genres.
The address was followed by the opening of the Pulp Uncovered exhibit at the John Nicolas Brown Center for the Study of American Civilization, which included displays of Pulp magazine covers.
The film festival also ran through the weekend, featuring such noir classics as "The Big Heat" and "The Maltese Falcon," as well as an international selection of films that were influenced by the Pulps. Films were shown at the Cable Car Cinema and the Rhode Island School of Design Auditorium.
The festival was founded by members of the John Nicolas Brown Center's master's degree program in public humanities, currently in its second academic year, said Scott Tiffany GS, director of Pulp Uncovered.
Tiffany, a documentary filmmaker with a longstanding interest in Pulp fiction, said he is currently working on a film about the history of Pulp fiction.
An additional draw for the festival was the inclusion of works by Providence-born author and Pulp-contributor H.P. Lovecraft, who grew up on Angell Street at the turn of the century. "We used Lovecraft as a window because he has a direct tie to Providence," Tiffany said.
On Friday, Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi '80 MA'82 spoke about Lovecraft's life, including the cult author's relationship with the Pulps and his influence on the horror genre. "In my humble opinion the great majority of Pulp writers were simply awful as literary figures - their work simply does not hold up," Joshi said. "But Lovecraft transformed the Pulp story into something approaching literary art."
Though Joshi said he thinks Lovecraft would have appreciated the posthumous recognition he has received from Providence and Brown, Joshi said he also thought "(Lovecraft) would have been amused at how seriously these Pulp magazines are taken, although we all regard them as sort of a guilty pleasure."
Other events this weekend included a series of Pulp plays that were inspired by Pulp magazine cover art and were written by playwrights associated with the University's master's of fine arts program as well as a RISD Museum event, "The Art of Pulp Fiction," in which four local artists with Pulp magazine experience discussed their own work and the Pulp aesthetic, Tiffany said.
The festival was funded by the John Nicholas Brown Center, Tiffany said. Event partners and sponsors outside the University included RISD, Providence Preservation Society, Providence Athenaeum and Rhode Island Historical Society. The biggest challenge of coordinating the event was the sheer magnitude of groups and students involved - at least 100 people made Pulp Uncovered possible, he said.
Although this is the first community-wide festival held by the John Nicholas Brown Center, it has sponsored several exhibitions, including the recent "Love and Rockets" comic exhibition, Tiffany said.
Tiffany said the turnout was high and included a number of Pulp buffs, some traveling to Providence for the event. Friday's snowfall affected one event, "Lovecraft at the Ladd," which was rescheduled for Saturday afternoon, he said.
