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Pitiless Cruelty: Cynicism, Capitalism, And Gambling In The Writing Of Mario Puzo, David Schwartz
Pitiless Cruelty: Cynicism, Capitalism, And Gambling In The Writing Of Mario Puzo, David Schwartz
Executive Vice President & Provost Faculty Publications
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.