This dissertation explores a key period in the development of science as an everyday thing as reflected in the important cultures of letters containing the pulp magazines Amazing
Stories and Black Mask and the novel Arrowsmith, respectively science fiction, hardboiled detective fiction, and the realist novel. These genres’ cultural (re)formation during this period reflects contesting claims as to what constitutes realism and the role of science in realistic fiction and in everyday life. These cultures can be understood as a dialectic, with Amazing Stories implying that science can improve everyday reality; Black Mask implying that science is insufficient to reliably understand everyday reality; and Arrowsmith problematizing the competing visions of science in everyday reality. Analyzing each of these works in the context of the others shows that realism, the everyday, and scientific expertise are all variable concepts that
take on different meanings in different cultural contexts.