Teaching Guide to Tony Barnstone’s (with notes by the author) © 2015 by Tony Barnstone Table of Contents Introduction: Pulp, A Modern Mythology ____________________________________________ 10 Use of Form: __________________________________________________________________________________ 10 The Documentary Method: _________________________________________________________________ 11 High Culture and Low Culture: ____________________________________________________________ 11 Allusion and Allegory: _______________________________________________________________________ 11 Bringing Poetry out of the Shadows: _______________________________________________________ 12 DISCUSSIONS OF THE POEMS _____________________________________________________ 13 KILLERS AND TRAMPS. __________________________________________________________________ 14 THE CAT LADY. __________________________________________________________________________ 14 Study Questions: _________________________________________________________________________________ 14 THE CHEMIST. ___________________________________________________________________________ 15 Readings: “The Laboratory” by Robert Browning ______________________________________________ 15 Study Questions: _________________________________________________________________________________ 16 THE LOVER. ______________________________________________________________________________ 17 Readings: Excerpts from James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice. _______________ 17 Study Questions: _________________________________________________________________________________ 18 NEW YORK BLUES. _____________________________________________________________________ 18 Readings: Excerpts from Cornell Woolrich’s “New York Blues” ______________________________ 18 Study Questions: _________________________________________________________________________________ 19 NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES. _____________________________________________________ 19 Readings: “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes” by Francis William Bourdillon, plus musical adaptations of the same title _____________________________________________________________________ 19 Study Questions: _________________________________________________________________________________ 20 A WOMAN LIKE A BULLET. ___________________________________________________________ 20 Readings: From T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”: __________________________ 20 Research Topics: _________________________________________________________________________________ 21 MEXICAN MOVIE, 1939. ________________________________________________________________ 21 Study Questions: _________________________________________________________________________________ 21 THE CHOP SHOP. ________________________________________________________________________ 21 Study Questions: _________________________________________________________________________________ 22 INSECTS AND CIGARETTES. __________________________________________________________ 22 Readings: William Lindsay Gresham, Cornell Woolrich and Han Shan _______________________ 22 Study Questions: _________________________________________________________________________________ 23 THE BALLAD OF DOTTIE AND PETE. ________________________________________________ 23 Research Topics: _________________________________________________________________________________ 23 James M. Cain as Source: ____________________________________________________________________ 23 Pulp Fiction Techniques: ____________________________________________________________________ 23 The Femme Fatale: __________________________________________________________________________ 24 OPERATION RAGNAROK. _______________________________________________________________ 25 Readings: Origin of Sequence in “Detective Suite: A Cut-Up Novel in Monotypes” __________ 25 A BACK ALLEY IN HONNINGSVÅG __________________________________________________ 25 Readings __________________________________________________________________________________________ 26 Wallace Stevens’ “Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock” _______________________________________ 26 Emily Dickinson’s “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?” (260) ___________________________________ 26 William Blake’s “The Tyger” ________________________________________________________________ 26 Study Questions _________________________________________________________________________________ 28 WET WORK _______________________________________________________________________________ 28 Study Questions _________________________________________________________________________________ 28 DEATH AND THE AUTHOR. ____________________________________________________________ 28 Readings: Early Church Father Tertullian on Eve and Women _________________________________ 29 Study Questions _________________________________________________________________________________ 29 AT THE FISHHOUSES ___________________________________________________________________ 29 Readings: Elizabeth Bishop: “The Fish” ________________________________________________________ 29 Readings: from Elizabeth Bishop’s “At the Fishhouses” _______________________________________ 29 Study Questions _________________________________________________________________________________ 30 THE JOB. __________________________________________________________________________________ 30 Readings: The Leviathan (Job 41 1-34) _________________________________________________________ 32 Study Questions _________________________________________________________________________________ 33 THE MAN WITH THE GLASS EYE SPEAKS. _________________________________________ 33 Readings: Ayn Rand, Howard Roark’s speech in praise of selfishness, from The Fountainhead (1943) ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 33 Study Questions _________________________________________________________________________________ 40 GOD COMPLEX. __________________________________________________________________________ 40 Study Questions _________________________________________________________________________________ 40 THE HERMENEUTICS OF SPYCRAFT. ________________________________________________ 40 Study Questions _________________________________________________________________________________ 40 THE POETRY OF MURDER. ____________________________________________________________ 40 Readings: “The Continuity of Parks” by Julio Cortázar ________________________________________ 40 Study Questions _________________________________________________________________________________ 42 Research Topics __________________________________________________________________________________ 42 Sources: ______________________________________________________________________________________ 42 Intertexuality: ________________________________________________________________________________ 42 Metafiction: __________________________________________________________________________________ 42 The Death of the Author: ____________________________________________________________________ 42 The Femme Fatale and the Damsel in Distress ____________________________________________ 43 Classic Tropes: Theodicy (“God on Trial”), Misotheism (“Hatred of the Gods”), Distheism (“Bad God”), Deus Deceptor (“Deceptive God”) _______________________________ 43 JACK LOGAN, FIGHTING AIRMAN: THE CASE OF THE RED BORDELLO. ___ 44 Readings: Jack Logan as Radio Play: ____________________________________________________________ 44 Readings: Live Performance of This Radio Play: _______________________________________________ 44 Readings: Origin of Sequence in “Detective Suite: A Cut-Up Novel in Monotypes” __________ 44 ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHT _____________________________________________________ 44 Readings: Robert Frost’s “Acquainted with the Night” _________________________________________ 45 Study Questions _________________________________________________________________________________ 46 TRICKS AND STAG FLICKS ____________________________________________________________ 46 Research Topic: Rose as Trickster _____________________________________________________________ 46 Reading: Carl Jung on the Trickster Archetype _________________________________________________ 46 THE NAME OF THE ROSE ______________________________________________________________ 46 THE TRICK TURNS ______________________________________________________________________ 47 THE ACT __________________________________________________________________________________ 47 Readings: William Blake’s “The Sick Rose” ____________________________________________________ 47 Research Topic: Flowers and Women _________________________________________________________ 47 TWO BLACK BOOKS AND A STACK OF CASH _____________________________________ 48 ANGELS AND BUTTERCUPS ___________________________________________________________ 48 ANGEL FACE _____________________________________________________________________________ 48 A HEAP OF BROKEN IMAGES _________________________________________________________ 48 Readings: Oliver Goldsmith’s "When lovely woman stoops to folly" __________________________ 48 Readings: T.S. Eliot, from “The Fire Sermon”: _________________________________________________ 48 Research Topic: Shoring Fragments Against the Ruins ______________________________________ 50 A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME _______________________________________________________ 50 TOUGH ACT TO FOLLOW ______________________________________________________________ 50 THE KISS & THE DISTRESSED ROSE