Brief analysis

On the Foreign Literary Works of The Godfather

Author: [America] Pu Zuo

Type: novel

Background search

Written in 1969, this book is one of the best-selling novels in America in 1970s. This book has been selling well since its publication. In just ten years, the total print run of The Godfather has reached 654.38+03 million, which is recognized as another miracle in American publishing history.

The author mario puzo (1921-1999) was born in an Italian immigrant family in new york and loved literature since childhood. As a teenager, he was obsessed with the novels of Russian writer Dostoevsky. His works such as * * *, Crime and Punishment, and brothers karamazov had a great influence on the formation of Pu Zuo Thought. From then on, he was determined to be a writer, but his family didn't understand him and thought he was simply whimsical and unreasonable. During World War II, he devoted himself to the battlefield and collected a lot of creative materials in the smoke of war. After World War II, he officially started his writing career. Puzo's first two works, Dark Arena and Lucky Immigrant, both ended in failure, which made Puzo financially strapped and his family extremely disappointed with him. However, the godfather finally brought belated honor and wealth to this stubborn child who loves the muse. Anecdotal stories once passed around with his mother in the streets of new york, together with materials collected by Pu Zuo himself and his understanding of mafia history, made him extremely successful in constructing this thrilling, bloody and romantic godfather world. Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco

The Godfather published by Huacheng Publishing House, translated by Zhong Guanghua and Zhang Wuling, published by Yilin Publishing House and translated by Zhou Hanlin are all better versions.

Content essence

1945 In August, the wedding of Miss Konstantia Coe Leonie was held in a big mansion on Long Island. Guests flooded in. Most of them are friends of the bride's father, Don Leoni.

Stills of the film "Godfather"

Known by many as the "godfather", Don Coe Leoni appears to be the largest importer of olive oil in the United States, but in fact he is a powerful mafia family leader. He manages a huge underground empire with ease. He is courteous to everyone and helps people solve difficult problems. At the same time, in the form of "friendship", at the appropriate time, when needed, ask the other party to return their help.

Don has three sons. Sonny, the eldest son, is strong but reckless; The second son, Fred, is docile and honest, with a weak temperament; Only the third son, Michael, likes Don best. He was once regarded as the heir of this family, but he deliberately alienated from the family, which made Tang very dissatisfied. At this time, he is sitting at the far end of the garden with his girlfriend of pure American descent.

After the wedding, Don took Sonny and Hagen, a military adviser, to see Sollozzo, the drug smuggling leader. During the talks, Tang refused to join Sollozzo's drug smuggling, but Shanni was moved by the huge interests and unconsciously showed her willingness to cooperate. All this did not escape Sollozzo's sharp eyes. Sollozzo decided to get rid of Don, and Sonny, who took over the family business at that time, would cooperate with him. Later, Sollozzo sent someone to assassinate Tang, but the witty Tang escaped and was only injured and admitted to the hospital.

Sollozzo paid a high price to ask the police officer to drive away the bodyguards around Tang's ward, trying to finally kill Tang. In an emergency, Michael heard the news and called for help. Michael's face was injured in the conflict with the police.

Michael found that he couldn't stay out of it, and was forced to intervene in family affairs and took the initiative to apply for the dismissal of Sorozzo's task.

Sollozzo knew that Tang would spare no effort to organize revenge. In order to delay the time, he offered to negotiate with Sunny. Michael seized the opportunity of negotiation, shot Sollozzo and the accompanying police, and then fled to Italy to hide.

Sollozzo's death triggered a series of underworld fights. Sanny's brother-in-law, Carlo, was dissatisfied with his humble position in the family. He was lured by the enemy and betrayed Sanny. He was assassinated.

At this point, Tang Can returned to the Jianghu after his illness. In order to get Michael back to America, Don decided to compromise with the enemy. He proposed to hold a national mafia family meeting, at which he promised to provide legal protection for drug smuggling and asked the other party not to pursue Michael. Under a series of ingenious arrangements, Michael was acquitted and went home safely.

After this melee, Tang's strength plummeted and internal disputes continued. For the future of the family, Tang decided to retire and Michael took over the family. Michael, an honest young man who once wanted to stay away from the underworld, soon grew into an excellent mafia family leader.

At first, Michael swallowed his anger, adopted a policy of circuitous compromise to the provocation of hostile families, and tried his best to clean up the interior. He confirmed Carlo's betrayal and killed him mercilessly; After careful arrangement, a hidden column leader was removed.

Hold on to Michael inside and start a full-scale counterattack. He sent selected killers to assassinate the leaders of rival families and recapture the territory lost by the family in the melee. After this comprehensive counterattack, Michael gained great fame and regained the leading position of Tangmen in the new york family.

Don soon died of a heart attack. Michael succeeded in taking charge of the family. He believes that it is just around the corner for the underworld family to move from a "dark place" to a "bright place". In order to adapt to this change, he began to invest a lot of manpower and material resources in the central and western regions. He is a far-sighted underworld leader and will never fight an unprepared war.

At this time, Michael and his ex-girlfriend Kay also formed a happy family. Like her mother-in-law, Kay goes to church to pray every day, hoping that prayer will bring peace to Michael's soul.

personal seal

The following is selected from the godfather chapter 1 1. After Sollozzo sent someone to assassinate the godfather Tang, he pretended to hold peace talks to delay Tang's revenge. Michael took advantage of the peace talks to kill Sollozzo. This part of the atmosphere is tense, which highlights Michael's calm, witty and keen personality and shows his talent as the godfather of the new generation.

Michael can now be sure that this negotiation is only to win a few days, and Sollozzo will try to kill his father again. Fortunately, the Turks underestimated him and regarded him as a teenager. Michael once again felt the wonderful cold current in his body. He pretended to be distressed, and Sollozzo asked loudly, "What's the matter?"

Michael said shyly, "the wine went straight into my bladder and I held it for a long time." Can I go to the toilet? "

Michael stood up and went into the bathroom. A piece of pink soap is put in the wire box of the urinal. When he entered the toilet, he had a little diarrhea. He really should come. He quickly released his hand, then reached behind the enamel water tank and groped for it, and felt the small blunt pistol glued to the wall with tape. He pulled out his gun and remembered that Clemenza had said not to worry about fingerprints on the tape. He pinned the gun to his belt and buttoned his coat. He washed his hands, combed his hair with water, took out his handkerchief and wiped off the handprint on the faucet, then walked out of the toilet.

Sollozzo sat facing the toilet door, his black eyes very alert. Michael smiled easily and said, "Now I can talk."

Mccloskey is eating spaghetti and veal that have just arrived. The man sitting at the other end was eyeing up, and then obviously let his guard down.

Michael sat down again. He remembers Clemenza warning him not to do this and to shoot immediately after coming out of the toilet. But I don't know whether it was instinct or fear, but he didn't do it. He felt that if he acted quickly, he would be ruined. At this time, he felt safe and glad that he didn't have to stand, but his legs were still shaking.

Sollozzo owes him a favor. Merke's abdomen was covered by the table. He unbuttoned his coat and listened intently, but he didn't listen to a word. To him, these are meaningless voices. His head is full of blood and he won't listen to anything. Under the table, he pulled the gun out of his belt with his right hand. Just then, the waiter came over and asked them what they wanted. Sollozzo turned around and said a few words. Michael overturned the table with his left hand and pointed the gun at Sollozzo's head with his right hand. Sollozzo's reaction is very sensitive, and he has begun to avoid Michael's gun. But Michael is young and flexible. He pulled the trigger. The bullet hit Sollozzo's temple and half his head flew out at once. A cloud of blood and a broken skull were sprayed on the uniform of the dumbfounded waiter. Michael instinctively realized that one bullet was enough. Sollozzo turned his head at the last minute, and Michael clearly saw that the light of life in his eyes disappeared, just like a candle went out.

(Excerpted from Godfather, translated by Zhong Guanghua and Zhang Wuling, published by Huacheng Publishing House)

Humorous words

His desire to possess her is like a money addict's greedy desire for gold coins, and a tenant farmer's dream of getting his own land.

Friendship is everything. Friendship is more important than talent, more important than * *, and almost equal to family. Don't forget this.

Reading teaching

The Godfather is regarded as the masterpiece of American popular novels. This book is thrilling, vivid and fascinating. Vividly shows the mafia world, little known to outsiders, but powerful.

Mafia originated in Sicily, Italy. With the influx of Italian immigrants into the United States, the mafia also entered the United States and gradually became a powerful black power group. They take the family as the main body and collude with the government police to carry out all kinds of well-organized criminal activities. The mafia is powerful and is regarded as a powerful shadow. In this novel, Puzo focuses on blood shed's desperate struggle for power and profit among mafia families. The cruelty is beyond people's imagination. Violence has become the main theme of the world. At the same time, Puzo vividly described the family life of the mafia leader and godfather Don. There is no lack of loyalty, responsibility, warmth or even love here, but natural affection must give way to family interests. No matter how loving a couple is, there are secrets that they can't let each other know. No matter how close a brother is, he will kill his betrayed brother-in-law, and no matter how clever a daughter is, she will win the understanding of her father and brother. In the face of the death of a loved one, calmness should transcend sadness and crying. The law of silence is the highest law in this world, and betrayal is an unforgivable sin.

Overlooking new york

This is really a cruel and bloody world. But Puzo's success lies in that he didn't make it extremely ugly. His godfather title is quite meaningful. Mafia has great destructive power, but in this capitalist country where not everyone enjoys justice, it also embodies the opposite redemption function, that is, it realizes justice in its own way. The two protagonists in the book, Don and Michael, are fleshy and real. Although the father and son are cruel, they are extremely charming. Both of them are wise and brave, and they have the demeanor of generals who are strategizing and fearless in times of crisis. They are modest, polite and leisurely in their own world. This combination of contradictions, this extraordinary ability and this extraordinary cruelty undoubtedly aroused readers' great interest in reading and even won them a certain degree of affection for the characters. Therefore, these two consecutive mafia family leaders can both become famous figures with "evil beauty" in literature.

The Godfather also has many defects, some of which are too lengthy and tend to exaggerate violence and pornography. However, China's translator has abridged and handled it properly, so the Chinese translation of The Godfather is perfect. In the 1970s, Paramount Film Company of the United States adapted it into a film, which caused a sensation in the international film industry after it was released in 1972. 1973 This film won the Best Film Award, Best Director Award and Best Actor Award at the 45th Academy Awards. The godfather played by the famous movie star Marlon Brando became a classic screen image.

Reading suggestions

The Godfather is an easy-to-understand and gripping classic popular novel, which combines a lyrical and romantic atmosphere with strong tension. Readers can not only see thrilling stories, but also get positive and negative enlightenment from the godfather's unique views on human destiny and the way to deal with things.

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