Popular Culture Studies

IsraPulp is a research collection of Hebrew popular literature and pulps (established 2004). It includes thousands of rare books and serialized pamphlets published since the early 1930s to the present day, in a wide range of genres: Westerns (some take place in Arizona), detective stories, crime novels, science fiction, romance, comics, and non-canonical children's books. Cultural undercurrents, political interests, and content that would not have been published in mainstream publications -- all are represented in this collection.

אוסף ישראפּאלפּ לספרות פאלפ עברית מכיל אלפי פריטים השמורים באוספים המיוחדים של הספרייה. באוסף ספרים, מגזינים, עיתונים, פוסטרים ושאר דברי דפוס המקיפים סוגות רבות (ספרי מתח ופעולה, ספרות רומנטית, מערבונים, ספרות בלשית, מדע בדיוני ועוד), ספרות ילדים לא קאנונית ופרסומים מחתרתיים המתעדים את התפתחותה של התרבות הפופולרית בישראל משנות השלושים ועד ימינו.

About the Collection

Leket-Mor, Rachel. 2022. "My Heart Is in the West and I Myself Am on the Eastern Edge: Hebrew Pulp Westerns and the Sabra Cowboy." In The Literary Western in the Global Imagination, edited by David Rio, Marek Paryz, and Christopher Conway, 253–277. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004525306_016.

Leket-Mor, Rachel. 2011. “The Israeli Popular Literature Collection at ASU Library.” Judaica Librarianship 16/17: 1-53. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.14263/2330-2976.1003.

• Nancy Ben-Asher Ozeri, "Pulp Fiction," Arizona Jewish Life Magazine, (Arts, 29–30) April 25, 2016.
• Salvatore Caputo, "ASU Lifts Veil on Israel's Pulp Culture," Jewish News of Greater Phoenix, July 13, 2012.
• Danielle Grobmeier, "IsraPulp Collection Offers Unique Look into Israeli Culture," The State Press, January 6, 2012.
• Evan Lewis, "Israeli Pulp Fiction Collection Distinguishes ASU Library," ASU News, December 9, 2011.
• "Israeli Popular Literature." Leket-Mor, Rachel. The Library Channel, ASU Library. October 10, 2008.

Related Articles

"Tarzan and the Jews: how the king of the apes became an Israeli craze," Rex Weiner. The Forward, August 7, 2012.

Israeli Superheroes: The International Catalogue of Superheroes 

"Israel's Unexpected Spinoff from a Holocaust Trial," Kershner, Israel. New York Times, September 6, 2007.

Hebrew Sources

Fantasy 2000: A 1970s periodical (IsraPulp Collection physical copy)

This World (העולם הזה): A sensational, anti-governmental edited by Uri Avneri, 1950–1989

Stalag: A podcast dedicated to reading and critiquing Stalag books, 2021 (links to Spotify)

The Tiny Novel / The Quill (1939–1961): Gabriel M. Rosenbaum's study 

The Israeli Cartoon Museum

The Israeli Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy

Shragah Gafni's Official Site: A bio-bibliographic site, including scans of book covers and some full-text.

Eli Eshed's Multi-Universe: The blog of the prolific guru of Israeli popular literature

Notalgiyah online: David Sela's online project, preserving Israeli everyday life

Eliasaf Robinson Tel Aviv Collection, Stanford University: Census materials, advertisements (1920s–1930s), maps, postcards, photographs, flyers, movie handbills, business ads.

Stanford University Library holds a photograph archive of Olam ha-kolno'a ("Cinema World", 1951–1974) and Lahiton ("Hit Parade Newspaper", 1969–1987) magazines, documenting Israeli popular music (1950s–1980s).

Time Travel: A digitized collection of posters, pamphlets, advertisements, brochures, and other ephemeral materials form Israel, the National Library of Israel, Arcadia Fund, and UCLA.

Jonathan Friedlander collection of Middle Eastern Americana, 1875-–2006 at UCLA

Queer Eye, Israeli fanzine: A digital fanzine published between 2009 to 2011, giving voice to gay and queer issues in the Israeli society. Archived and hosted by the University of Texas in Austin Libraries.