Horwitz Publications, Pulp Fiction and the Rise of the Australian Paperback

By (author) Andrew Nette

Publication date:

12 July 2022

Publisher

Anthem Press

Dimensions:

229x153mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781839982453

This is the first book-length study of Sydney-based Horwitz Publications, the largest and most dynamic Australian pulp publisher to emerge after World War II. Although best known for its cheaply produced, sometimes luridly packaged, softcover books, Horwitz Publications played a far larger role in mainstream Australian publishing than has been so far recognised, particularly in the expansion of the paperback from the late 1950s onwards.
Horwitz Publications, Pulp Fiction and the Rise of the Australian Paperback examines the authorship, production, marketing and distribution of Horwitz pulp paperbacks. It includes ground-breaking material on the conditions of creative labour: the writers, artists and editors involved in the production of Horwitz pulp. The book also explores how Horwitz pulp paperbacks acted as a local conduit for the global modern: the ideas, sensations, fascinations, technologies, and people that came crashing into the Australian consciousness in the 1950s and 1960s.

List of Figures; Acknowledgements; Introduction: Pulp Jungles in Australia and Beyond; 1. ‘Mental Rubbish’ and Hard Currency: Import Restrictions and The Origins of Australia’s Pulp Publishing Industry; 2. Dreaming of America: Horwitz in the Early Post-War Period; 3. The Fiction Factory Expands: Horwitz in the Second Half of the 1950s; 4. ‘The Mighty U.S.A Paperback Invasion’: Horwitz and The Changing Metabolism of Australian Publishing in The Early 1960s; 5. The Female Fiction Factory; 6. Party Girls and Prisoners of War: The Australianisation of Horwitz Pulp in the 1960s; 7. Policing The ‘Literary Sewer’: Horwitz and The Censors; 8. Competing with The Sexual Spectacle: Horwitz and The Mainstreaming of The Erotic, 1967–1972; 9. ‘You’ve Got to Grab Their Attention’: Horwitz Cover Art; 10. The End of The Pulp Jungle; Bibliography; Index

“This fascinating and meticulously researched book tells a compelling story about the most successful independent Australian publisher, Horwitz, in the mid-20th century. Nette argues that Horwitz impacted the Australian book industry and Australian reading practices by its innovative adoption of merchandising practices and its ability to tread the fine line between feeding readers the salacious and sensationalist fare they wanted while keeping the censors at bay. This is a valuable and immensely readable story about the Americanisation of Australian popular fiction in the mid-twentieth century and the Australianisation of American genres at the same time.” — Hsu-Ming Teo, Associate Professor and Head of Department, Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language and Literature, Macquarie University, AUS.