The Godfather and American Culture -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Part I: Popular Fiction Criticism and American Careers -- 1. Popular Fiction: Taste, Sentiment, and the Culture of Criticism -- 2. Mario Puzo: An American Writer's Career -- Part II: Reading The Godfather: Critical Strategies and Theoretical Models -- 3. Bakhtin and Puzo: Authority as the Family Business -- 4. The Godfather and the Ethnic Ensemble -- 5. Barthes and Puzo: The Authority of the Signifier -- Part III: Positioning The Godfather in American Narrative Study -- 6. The Godfather and Melodrama: Authorizing the Corleones as American Heroes -- 7. The Corleones as "Our Gang": The Godfather Interrogated by Doctorow's Ragtime -- 8. The American Inadvertent Epic: The Godfather Copied -- 9. The Godfather Sung by The Sopranos -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. Popular Fiction: Taste, Sentiment, and the Culture of Criticism -- Chapter 2. Mario Puzo: An American Writer's Career -- Chapter 3. Bakhtin and Puzo: Authority as the Family Business -- Chapter 4. The Godfather and the Ethnic Ensemble -- Chapter 5. Barthes and Puzo: The Authority of the Signifier -- Chapter 6. The Godfather and Melodrama: Authorizing the Corleones as American Heroes -- Chapter 7. The Corleones as "Our Gang": The Godfather Interrogated by Doctorow's Ragtime -- Chapter 8. The American Inadvertent Epic: The Godfather Copied -- Chapter 9. The Godfather Sung by The Sopranos -- Conclusion -- Works Cited -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- W -- X.