Pulp Fiction. When most people hear those words, their mind immediately goes to Samuel L Jackson being terrifying and John Travolta shooting Marvin in the face in Quentin Tarantino’s masterwork. But pulp fiction actually describes a genre of literature popular in the 50s, 60s and 70s, popularising most crime dramas starring femme fatales or sci-fi romps. With tongue firmly in cheek, the wild, campy adventures basically made pulp fiction the b-movie of the book world. And now one company, Pulp the Classics, is returning to that cheeky sense of humour with their releases, issuing classic novels with amusing pulp fiction covers. Let’s take a look at the roster.
Featuring the most famous Mr Darcy of all, Colin Firth, as its cover star, Jane Austen’s most famous of her many works is given the pulp treatment with the witty tag line “Lock up your daughters…Darcy’s in town!” Clearly playing on Firth’s infamous wet-shirt scene, Mr Darcy looks rakishly handsome, with a cigarette hanging from his lips for that extra bad boy touch.
This desert island drama has found the perfect cover star in rough-and-buff Gerard Butler lookalike, complete with artful stubble (although the cover’s illustrator insists it was originally supposed to resemble James Dean). There is also a parrot, because pulp covers do not rely on subtlety. “Solitude was driving him NUTS!” claims the cover, hence Robinson Crusoe’s murderous gaze at the coconut tantalisingly hanging overhead. And, of course, the ever-present cigarette.
Taking inspiration from the infamous Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes films, the cover is livened up by a perfectly psychotic Chihuahua, which is somehow even more terrifying than the mega-hound of the story, given his glowing yellow eyes of doom. This book sports one of the greatest taglines of the collection: “Murder…Mystery…WALKIES!” Would you like to take that tiny beast for a walk? This time, Watson has the cigarette, while Holmes has traded in for the classier pipe.
Disregarding the Leonardo DiCaprio vehicle, this stunning edition takes its inspiration from a poster for the previous film starring Alan Ladd, but with Robert Redford’s head transplanted onto his body, ubiquitous cigarette dangling roguishly from his lips as his trench coat conceals his body much as Jay Gatsby conceals his secrets. This time, the tagline uses a flower-related pun, as if those dashing looks weren’t enough to entice you in!
One of the less revealing of the Pulp the Classics covers, Tess of the D’Urbervilles nevertheless features the screen icon Marilyn Monroe as a character all about sex appeal. Swapping the cigarette for the far more feminine whiskey-through-a-straw, Tess is a femme fatale for the ages!
We return to the cigarette fun for Humphrey Bogart’s turn as Heathcliffe, star of Kate Bush’s song Wuthering Heights. Oh, and it’s a very famous book too. Instead of taking the Kate Bush bait in the tagline, the cover artist instead turns to one of Bogart’s most famous lines from one of his biggest hits, Casablanca. And why not, since that film is considered to have the greatest dialogue of all time?
Alastair Sim, of 1951’s Scrooge, decides to fend off the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come with a mace in this reimagining of Dickens’ classic festive tale. It also marks the first cover to call its star a “cat”, making up for the disappointing lack of a cigarette.
Professionally handsome Ryan Gosling appears in the role he was intended for, as supernaturally handsome Dorian Gray in Oscar Wilde’s masterwork. As a man who remains young and beautiful forever while his portrait withers and dies, one can’t help but wonder if Gosling has that same kind of deal going on. Again, there is no cigarette, but this is made up for by the glorious inclusion of the Ryan Gosling “Hey girl” meme in the tagline. Perfect.
A mash-up of Boris Karloff and 50s bad boys like James Dean, the cover for the soon to be released Frankenstein reveals one glaring fact: everything is better with monsters on motorbikes. Unfortunately, this is the perfect time for a cigarette inclusion, but the Monster’s tremendous quiff is satisfactory. James Joyce’s Dubliners takes a Reservoir Dogs approach, only instead of Mr White and co, we get Ireland’s finest like Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell adorning the cover. And finally, the most perfect casting ever conceived of: Mr T as Othello the Moor.