Pitiless Cruelty: Cynicism, Capitalism, and Gambling in the Writing of Mario Puzo
Document Type
Blog
Publication Date
1-1-2020
Publication Title
Popular Culture Review
Volume
31
Issue
2
First page number:
1
Last page number:
12
Abstract
The Godfather made him a wealthy man, but Mario Puzo’s long years as a struggling writer and childhood in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen conditioned him to treat money—and those who made a great deal of it—with suspicion. This paper explores how Puzo’s cynical views of capitalism were buttressed by his experiences as a self-described “mildly degenerate” gambling, and how they are expressed in both his fiction and non-fiction.
Keywords
Mario Puzo; Gambling; The mafia; Cynicism; The Godfather
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Creative Writing
Language
English
Repository Citation
Schwartz, D.
(2020).
Pitiless Cruelty: Cynicism, Capitalism, and Gambling in the Writing of Mario Puzo.
Popular Culture Review, 31(2),
1-12.
https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/evpp_fac_articles/17