Hacker News Reader

Isn’t pulp fiction by definition low quality?

Pulp fiction just means works published in pulp magazines or similarly disreputable publications. Some was bad, some was great. Many acclaimed authors wrote for the pulps:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_magazine#Authors_featured

In your very own link it says the term is used to refer to "run-of-the-mill, low-quality literature".

Pulp is, by definition, material printed in cheap wood pulp magazines.

Pulp is, by association, low-quality writing.

Pulp is also, by allusion, a particular genre/structure mirroring the dominant topics and styles of the original magazines - regardless of its quality.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com