Savages and Astronomers: Representation of the Maya and Aztecs in the American pulp-magazines of the Interwar Period.

The period from the second half of the 19th century to the first quarter of the 20th century was an important stage in the development of American Mayan studies and was accompanied by interest in Mesamerican antiquity in American society, which was expressed in museum exhibitions, architecture, journalism, and popular literature. In this paper, we examine the representation of pre-Columbian civilizations in the popular pulp magazines of the interwar period. We analyze not only fiction (stories in the historical and fantasy genres), but also journalistic materials (some written by archaeologists) and readers' letters. The image can be divided into two parts: the warlike Aztecs with their bloody sacrifices, and the Maya, a people of architects, scientists, and astrologers. In the case of the Aztecs, there is a strong influence of sources from the Conquest era, primarily Bernal Diaz. The images that came from his pen successfully migrated to popular literature. In the case of the Maya and their achievements, exaggerated by sensation-hungry journalists, the situation is more complex. Academic science had a stronger influence on their representation, especially since there was active research into the ruins of Yucatan and attempts to decipher the language, but the voice of various publicists, pseudo-scientists, occultists, etc., who aroused great interest among the public, was also stronger. To sum up, it can be said that the image that developed in American popular culture in the interwar period then became part of global popular culture, which ultimately raises an important question about the perception of pre-Columbian heritage in the modern world on a global scale.