高级英语第一册Blackmail的赏析
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Blackmail
About the author.
This novel is written by Arthur Hailey.He is a bestsellers novelist.
Born in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, Hailey served in the Royal Air
Force from the start of World War II during 1939 until 1947, when he
went to live in Canada. Hailey's last novel, Detective(1997), is a
mystery told from the perspective of a Miami homicide detective. This
detective also happens to be a former Catholic priest who has lost his
religion; the work deals with themes of religion and questions the
Catholic Church. Hailey told the Walden Book Report that his aim in
writing this book was to share his own thoughts about religion without
"mak[ing] it a lecture." He says that he lost his own faith while
serving in Cyprus during World War II, and that since ex-priests have
many occupations he might as well give his protagonist an exciting
one.After working at a number of jobs and writing part-time, he became a
writer full-time during 1956.Following the success of Hotel during 1965,
he moved to California; in 1969, he moved to the Bahamas to avoid
Canadian and U.S. income taxes, which were claiming 90% of his
income.His best sellers include:Hotel,Airport,Wheels,The Final Diagnosis
and The Moneychangers.
About the best sellers of author
Each of his novels has a different industrial or commercial setting
and includes, in addition to dramatic human conflict, carefully
researched information about the way that particular environment and
system functions and how these affect society and its inhabitants.
Critics often dismissed Hailey's success as the result of a
formulaic "potboilera" style, in which he caused an ordinary character
to become involved in a crisis, then increased the suspense by switching
among multiple related plot lines. However, he was so popular with
readers that his books were almost guaranteed to become best-sellers.
He would spend about one year researching a subject, followed by
six months reviewing his notes and, finally, about 18 months writing the
book. That aggressive research—tracking rebel guerrillas in the
Peruvian jungle at age 67 for The Evening News(1990), or reading 27
books on the hotel industry for Hotel—gave his novels a realism that
appealed to readers, even as some critics complained that he used it to
disguise a lack of literary talent.
Many of his books reached 1 on the New York Times bestseller list
and more than 170 million copies have been sold worldwide in 40
languages. Many have been made into movies and Hotel was made into a
long-running television series.Airport became
a successful film with dramatic visual effects.
About the background.
The story happened in a hotel named St. Gregory in New Orleans,
Louisiana which is in the south of US.The text is only a part of the
nove,Hotel.We can see three main characters in this text.O gilvie: chief
house officer.the Duke of Croydon: newly appointed British ambassador to
the United States.the Duchess of Croydon: wife of the Duke.
This kind of novels are called thrillers. Generally defining, a
thriller is a work of fiction or drama designed to hold the interest by
the use of a high degree of intrigue, adventure or suspense. Others can
be called cop-criminal novels, detective novels. The main purpose is for
entertainment, amusement. Very often this kind of novels contain a lot
of action, usu. suspension, not very much deep thought, without moral
intention, not considered classic.
The basic technique is to make the whole story of crime into sth.
like a jigsaw puzzle. You can not see the outcome until the final part
is put in.
About the plot.
Gregory was now at the brink of bankruptcy, but Peter McDermott is
trying every means he could to save it.Several events happened during
the week with the present text as part of it.The Duke of
Croydon was an internationally famous statesman and the newly
appointed British ambassador to Washington. They occupied the best suite
of the hotel. Monday evening, the Duke went to the gambling house. Later,
his wife pursued and found him. On their way back, the car Jaguar
knocked down a woman and her child. Both killed.Ogilvie found the crime
and blackmailed the Duke and the Duchess.He managed to make the Duke and
the Duchess believe that he would bring the crime to light if his demand
was not satisfied.The Duchess came up with a good idea in order to avoid
punishment.She would like Ogilvie drive the car away from the city.In
the end,the couple paid Ogilvie money and the dirty deal was done.And
then,At one o'clock Thursday morning, Ogilvie drove the car north. But
he was seen leaving the hotel by McDermott. Later in the afternoon,
