Chris Messenger's Fable of Complex
Intersections of Work and Family in American Culture
aaaaaaaA blurb by Frank Lentricchia on the back of Chris Messenger’s book calls it “a landmark in the study of popular culture.” Most readers recognize academic hype and know that even the most cautious of scholars will risk indiscretion on a book jacket. But in this case the hyperbolic claim may be understated. Messenger’s book is a phenomenon. I am at a loss to think what manifestation of The Godfather narratives (book, film trilogy, related movies, television programming), or what aspect of authoring, filming, marketing, or what theoretical perspective or intellectual framework Messenger overlooks in this comprehensive, intelligent, and definitive study of what is surely the twentieth century’s most telling fable of the complex intersections of work and family in American culture.
At the same time, Messenger’s hand shakes on the trigger: this is a nervous book. His intellectual anxiety shows as he approaches The Godfather with his thesis that Mario Puzo’s novel does for twentieth century America what Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin did for the nineteenth. Stowe’s novel was an international sensation, not only for its treatment of slavery but for its sentimental revelations, its view of how the world was structured in the United States and why it worked the way it worked. Domestically, her projection of that world was so convincing and so necessary to readers and audiences that the novel was staged repeatedly in cities and towns for decades after its publication. Much of Stowe’s imagination entered popular culture and remains there - Simon Legree, Uncle Tom, the transformative potential of sentimentality. The Godfather follows a similar trajectory. Another international blockbuster novel, The Godfather was followed by a hugely popular film trilogy, one of the century’s most compelling cultural achievements. What Puzo (and Francis Ford Coppola) created has entered popular discourse, to the point where the television series, The Sopranos, can transform
At the same time, Messenger’s hand shakes on the trigger: this is a nervous book. His intellectual anxiety shows as he approaches The Godfather with his thesis that Mario Puzo’s novel does for twentieth century America what Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin did for the nineteenth. Stowe’s novel was an international sensation, not only for its treatment of slavery but for its sentimental revelations, its view of how the world was structured in the United States and why it worked the way it worked. Domestically, her projection of that world was so convincing and so necessary to readers and audiences that the novel was staged repeatedly in cities and towns for decades after its publication. Much of Stowe’s imagination entered popular culture and remains there - Simon Legree, Uncle Tom, the transformative potential of sentimentality. The Godfather follows a similar trajectory. Another international blockbuster novel, The Godfather was followed by a hugely popular film trilogy, one of the century’s most compelling cultural achievements. What Puzo (and Francis Ford Coppola) created has entered popular discourse, to the point where the television series, The Sopranos, can transform