Tuesday, 11 September 2012

Dennis Wheatley,Edgar Rice Burroughs and The Pulp Masters

There seem to be few current editions of Dennis Wheatley apart from a couple of the occult novels published by Wordsworth books but such was his popularity that second paperback and hard back editions from the 1960s and 70s are still available at very cheap prices on line.As yet there seem to be no Kindle versions of his books which one would have thought the literary estate would seek to remedy especially in regard to the occult novels.His Conservative views are now deemed politically incorrect which may also be preventing any revival of his works.In the 21st century the horror writer Clive Barker championed him in his TV series and book The A to Z of Horror and there was a television program devoted to him entitled a Message To Posterity.This revolved around a letter left by him in a time capsule in the late 1940s warning the future about the danger of a socialist communist dictatorship. A number of cultural talking heads discussed him and his books in the program.The critic John Sutherlan devoted  a chapter of his cultural autobiography  Magic Moments to his novel Such Power is Dangerous which he favorable reviews.He contrasts him with Aldous Huxley a literary writer who he also read as a teenager.There has also been the recent biography by Phil Barker entitled The Devil is A Gentlemen.There are also several blogs devoted to him .Whether this will result in a revival only time will tell.