The Godfather and American culture [[electronic resource] ] : how the Corleones became "our gang" / / Chris Messenger

• Autore: Messenger Christian K. <1943->
• Pubblicazione: Albany, : State University of New York Press, c2002
• Edizione: 1st ed.
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (353 p.)
• Disciplina: 813/.54
• Soggetto topico: Corleone family (Fictitious characters); Criminals in literature; Families in literature; Italian Americans in literature; Mafia in literature
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. 317-325) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Front Matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Popular Fiction Criticism and American Careers -- Popular Fiction: Taste, Sentiment, and the Culture of Criticism -- Mario Puzo: An American Writer’s Career -- Reading The Godfather : Critical Strategies and Theoretical Models -- Bakhtin and Puzo: Authority as the Family Business -- The Godfather and the Ethnic Ensemble -- Barthes and Puzo: The Authority of the Signifier -- Positioning The Godfather in American Narrative Study -- The Godfather and Melodrama: Authorizing the Corleones as American Heroes -- The Corleones as “Our Gang”: The Godfather Interrogated by Doctorow’s Ragtime -- The American Inadvertent Epic: The Godfather Copied -- The Godfather Sung by The Sopranos -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: Mario Puzo's The Godfather is an American pop phenomenon whose driving force is reflected not only in book sales and cable television movie marathons but also in such related works as the hit television series The Sopranos. In The Godfather and American Culture, Chris Messenger offers an important and comprehensive study of this classic work of popular fiction and its hold on the American imagination. As Messenger shows, the Corleones have indeed become "our gang," and we see our family business in America reflected in them. Examining The Godfather and its many incarnations within a variety of texts and contexts, Messenger also addresses Puzo's inconsistent affiliation with his Italian heritage, his denial of the multiethnic literary subject, and his decades-long struggle for respect as a writer in contemporary America. The study ultimately offers a way of looking at the much-maligned genre of popular or bestselling fiction itself. By placing both the novel and films within a number of revealing critical situations, Messenger addresses the continuing problem of how we talk about elite and popular fiction in America—and what we mean when we take sides.
• Titolo autorizzato: The Godfather and American culture
• ISBN: 0-7914-8870-5; 0-585-47102-9
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Record Nr.: 9910820037403321
• Lo trovi qui: Univ. Federico II