Fiction: 1900 to the 1930s

This year’s scholarship focuses on women authors working in genres traditionally associated with male authors, including westerns, naturalism, and noir. Genres formerly considered marginal or lowbrow, such as popular/mass market, detective, pulp, and weird fiction, receive increased scholarly attention, with a reevaluation of both aesthetics and cultural context. Texts about individual authors include an MLA volume on teaching Nella Larsen, a collection of critical essays on H. P. Lovecraft, a history of Jack London and his London publishers, an edition of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s letters, and a study of the influence of World War I on Raymond Chandler’s writing.