The Mafia Gangster in American Crime Fiction: an analysis of the phenomenon of the mafia with reference to "The Godfather", "Goodfellas" and "The Sopranos"

Term Paper (Advanced seminar) , 2012 , 25 Pages , Grade: 1,3

American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography

The genre of crime fiction comprises several subgenres and is only an umbrella term for literature about crime that originated particularly in Great Britain and the United States in a time ranging from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century. When people are confronted
with the genre of crime fiction, they usually associate it with detective fiction or crime thrillers. Some of the most popular writers of crime fiction are Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Raymond Chandler and Edgar Allan Poe and their inventions of such
characters as Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple and Philip Marlowe (Priestman 2003: preface). These works have shaped our understanding of crime literature profoundly and influenced the emergence of other crime fiction genres and their authors. On these grounds this essay will mainly focus on the emergence of a crime genre that is concerned with the American gangster and the myth of the mafia. To be more precise, I will concentrate on the mafia gangster in the United States and analyze his way to success and power. To better understand the phenomenon of the mafia gangster, I will give a brief account of American crime fiction followed by a description of the typical ingredients a successful crime novel has to have. Afterwards, I will present some information on the
American gangster in general and explain the circumstances that facilitated his career in organized crime to become such an important part of American culture. Then I will proceed with the sudden appearance of the mafia gangster in the United States and comment on the etymology of the term mafia in order to explain how he became so
important to the American culture. After the background information has been covered by the first three chapters, I will go on with the analysis of the phenomenon of the mafia in literature and on television. Therefore, the very popular contributions to the mafia genre produced by Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and David Chase will be discussed. The Godfather, Goodfellas and The Sopranos will be the main subjects of interest to show how these works contributed to a general understanding of the mafia in the
second half of the twentieth century. Finally, I will give a short account of the decline of the mafia in organized crime within the United States before the Conclusion will be presented.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction

2. American Crime Fiction
2.1 The satisfaction of murder
2.2 The invention of the gangster
2.3 The importance of the gangster in American culture

3. The mafia gangster in American culture
3.1 The etymology of the term “mafia”

4. The phenomenon of the mafia in literature and on television
4.1 Mario Puzo’s The Godfather and the film trilogy by Francis Ford Coppola
4.2 Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990)
4.3 David Chase’s The Sopranos (1999-2007)

5. The decline of the American mafia

6. Conclusion

List of references

• College: University of Cologne (English Department 1)
• Course: The Official World
• Grade: 1,3
• Author: Diplomsportwissenschaftler David Fußinger (Author)
• Publication Year: 2012
• Pages: 25
• Catalog Number: V195612
• ISBN (eBook): 9783656213772
• ISBN (Book): 9783656216612
• Language: English
• Tags: The mafia gangster, American gangster, American crime fiction, the mafia gangster in literature and on tv, The Godfather, Goodfellas, The Sopranos, the gangster in american culture, mafia, Martin Scorsese, Mario Puzo, David Chase, the decline of the american mafia