Straight Pulp

It is easier to see the lesbian motifs when the lesbian pulp covers are compared to pulp fiction books with straight themes. In the following examples, the placement of the women on the covers and how they relate to each other signal their lesbian relationship, especially when compared with books by the same author that do not contain lesbian themes.

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http://ec.msvu.ca:8080/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10587/823/LPF-Odd Girl Out-Front.jpg

“The Marriage” (1960) by Ann Bannon while narrated by two of her queer characters, is primarily focused on the relationship between a man and woman who learn they are brother and sister after they are already married. “Odd Girl Out” (1957) is the first of Ms. Bannon’s Beebo Brinker series and explores Laura Landon’s realization that she is a lesbian.

Hire hand front cover. A redhead woman sits on a wooden chair in the ground-level rain porch of a wooden structure. She is sitting with her legs sprawled, wearing a knee-high pink dress with short sleeves and buttons, and a V-neck, and she is barefoot. The right sleeve of the dress hangs over her shoulder. Her right hand is on her inner right thigh, while her left hand seems to be gesturing from behind the back of the chair. Her head is tilted to her left and slightly bowed down, and her eyes look to her right. Behind her there is a curtained, glass-pane window and a door and, to her left, a wooden rocker can be partially seen. To the far left of the image, the head of a man staring at her with a frown is seen, at a three-quarters angle away from the reader. Only the collar of his shirt is partially visible. A wooden post stands vertically between both figures, and a weed grows at the edge of the wooden deck, on the barren ground. From the lit areas, it seems that the sun is fairly low on the horizon, shining on them from the front left.
Whisper Their Love front cover. A brunette with short, curly hair is shown to the far right side of the image sitting down. Part of one of her legs is visible, showing the hem of a blue skirt and part of her shin. She is wearing a yellow, long-sleeved blouse which is buttoned at the cleavage level. Her face is slightly tilted to her right and to the back, and her gaze is relaxed and directed toward another woman, a redhead, who is sitting on the ground beside her with her body leaned over her lap and her right arm bent over the brunette's lap. Her eyes are green eyes and she is wearing a negligee with lace on its upper part, and straps. The brunette strokes her hair with her left hand, and the redhead's head is slightly curling over her right shoulder as she looks directly at the reader with a smile. To the left, in the background, a green night table is seen against a wall, with a table lamp on top which illuminates the wall in two places, over and under its shade. To the right of the image, around the brunette's left side, rays of light can be seen, seemingly coming through a window with blinds over it. The image is set over a yellow background seen at the top and the bottom of the cover.

Hired Girl” (1953) was Valerie Taylor’s first novel. It has no lesbian characters. It is often included in Lesbian Pulp Fiction collections because Valarie Taylor was an early lesbian activist and her other books deal with lesbian themes. “Whisper Their Love” (1957) was Ms. Taylor’s first lesbian novel. Interestingly, the publishers changed Ms. Taylor’s working title of “The Heart Takes Many Paths” to one that emphasized the publishing conventions of secrecy and shame for lesbian titles.

Sources

Melissa Sky. “Cover Charge: Selling Sex and Survival in Lesbian Pulp Fiction” in Matthews, Nicole, and Moody, Nickianne. Judging a Book by its Cover: Fans, Publishers, Designers, and the Marketing of Fiction. Ashgate, 2007.

Young, Ian. Out in Paperback: A Visual History of Gay Pulps. LMB Editions, 2007.

Zimet, Jaye. Strange Sisters: The Art of Lesbian Pulp Fiction, 1949-1969. Viking Studio, 1999.

Straight Pulp