Gladiators in the Century of Progress: The World’s Fairs, Pulp Modernism and Popular Contests of the 1930s

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the development of popular culture during the Depression decade and the consequences of the explosion of mass cultural forms for radical writing. On the one hand, spectaculars such as the 1933–1934 Century of Progress Exposition aim to proselytise for the benefits of corporate capitalism. At the same time, in less salubrious forms of popular entertainment, such as marathon dances and bingo games, working people find themselves on display. Realism and naturalism, represented here by Mildred Walker’s Light from Arcturus and James T. Farrell’s Judgement Day, respectively, struggle to accommodate these new forces. The pulp modernism of Horace McCoy’s They Shoot Horses Don’t They? however, captures something of the energy of mass culture, whilst Delmore Schwartz, in ‘Screeno’, maintains a critical stance.