Bill, thanks for the link. The writer seems to have no ear
for pulp fiction. His comments about Jakubowski's big book
show that, where we see a huge variety, he only sees an
undifferentiated mass. It reminds me of what some classical
music critics (fortunately, many years ago) have written
about jazz.
His theory on why readers read pulp stories seems dubious.
Why not assume that a colorful mystery with colorful
characters generally draws the reader in, period? Everyone
wants to be an adventurer and a detective. It's fun to read
about someone else being those things. I suspect that this
type of story is read for much the same reasons pulp stories
were read eighty years ago.
By applying heavy "theoretical" machinery (mainly verbiage;
there is no literary theory worthy of being called a theory),
you could end up making adventure and mystery stories into
something they cannot be.
Best,
MrT
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