Lesson 3Lesson 3

Blackmail

Contents:

The background About the author Epitome Jaguar Characters

Background Blackmail” is taken from Arthur Hailey's novel hotel. T

he novel is very popular and was made into a movie in 1967 and turned into a TV series in 1983 that ran for five years . The novel is set in an independent hotel in New Orleans .Suffering from financial problems ,the hotel is faced with being merged by a big hotel chain. In the end the hotel manages to remain independent because it is bought by an old man ,who stayed in the hotel and was taken good care of when he fell ill by Christine Francis without her knowing he was a rich man .

The novel features multiple unfolding plot lines which take place over five days from Monday through Friday. The novel mainly covered nine stories----Peter McDermott 、

The Hotel Finance Problem 、 Christine and Albert Wells 、 Marsha Prescott 、 The Dentist Convention 、 Curtis O'Keefe and Dodo Duke and Duchess of Croydon 、 Key case Milne 、 Climax .

All Arthur Hailey’s life Arthur Hailey Born in Luton,England,in1920,Arthru Hailey was educated in English schools

until age fourteen. After a brief career as an office boy, he joined the British Royal Air Force in 1939 and served through World War II, rising through the ranks to become a pilot and flight lieutenant. In 1947, Mr. Hailey emigrated to Canada, where he was successively a real estate salesman , business paper editor and a sales and advertising executive. He became ,and still is ,a Canadian citizen. In 1956, Arthur Hailey scored his first writing success with a TV drama, ”Fligt Into Danger,” which later became a motion picture and a novel ,Runway Zero-Eight. Since then, as a novelist and one of the great storytellers of our time, he has acquired a worldwide following of devoted readers and his books are published in twenty-seven languages. Arthur Hailey and his wife, Sheila, make their home at Lyford Cay in the Bahamas.

In the 1960s and 1970s Arthur Hailey, a British/Canadian writer, had stream of enormously successful novels set in very different work places, as indicated by some of their titles: Hotel, Airport, Wheels, the Evening News.

Though a Canadian himself ,he set the scene of most of his works in the United States. Each of his books deals with one particular field of society. This peculiarity of his book that is value to those who are eager to learn about contemporary American society.

A List of Arthur Hailey’s Novels Fight Into Danger 1956 The Final Diagnosis 1959 In High Places 1960 Hotel 1965 Airport 1968 Wheels 1971 The Money Changers 1975 Overload 1979 Strong Medicine 1984 The Evening News 1990 Detective 1997

The brief story The story happens in Croydons (a hotel where the Duc

k and the Duchess live). The Duck and the Duchess have committed a hit-and run,which killed a mother and a daughter ,they are trying to hide the secret .Unfortunately,it is found by a hotel greedy detective Ogilvie,he tries to blackmail the couple.In order to avoid being arrested ,the Duchess wants to make use of the detective's greedy character she offers to pay Ogilver more than double the amount he asked for on contion that he drives the car to the north ,the detective accepts at last.

Jaguar

• A famous trademark of a British motorcar named after the animal which is a large cat from Central and South America that is larger and stockier than the leopard and is brownish yellow or buff with black spots. Jaguar Cars Ltd., a British luxury car as the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1922. Jaguar cars are fashionable and expensive. In China Jaguar cars are translated as “ 捷豹” .

Racing car( 跑车 )

Character&Characterization

Ogilvie-The chief house detective

• Appearance:Appearance:– fatfat– PPiggy eyes iggy eyes – Gross jowled face Gross jowled face – Obese bodyObese body– Thick, fleshy fingersThick, fleshy fingers– Bulbous countenanceBulbous countenance– incongruous falsetto voice

Characters:• rude, sophisticatedsophisticated, shameless, unscrupulousunscrupulous,,greedy but finally

subservient( 恭顺的，奉承的 )

E.g. removed the offending cigar,knocked off the ash and flipped the butt; bite off the end of a fresh cigar; obese body shook in an appreciative chuckle; glanced, grinning, at the Duchess; falsetto voice took on a musing note; "Whatever names you call things... I got to live too"; "This cigar botherin' you?"• poor-educated(coarse and vulgaroarse and vulgar,,full of slang, not grammatical).

E.g.'You two was...' 'words spat forth with sudden savagery' 'There's things it pays to check'

The Duchess:wife of the Duke• Appearance: pale cheek with two high points, gray-green eyes

• Characters: imperious,of inbred arrogance(born born of of a wealthy a wealthy noble noble familyfamily), decisive, vigilant

时刻警惕着的 ,quick in response

E.g.look pointedly at the cigar; springing to her feet,her face wrathful,gray-green eyes blazing,she faced the grossness of the house detective squarely; shot a swift warning glance; 'you unspeakable blackguard!how dare you!' 'Would you kindly put that out!'

well-educated(formal language) E.g.'I imagine you did not come here to discuss décor.'

The Duck:The newly appointed British ambassador to the US

• Appearance: attempts to square his shoulders but failed

• Characters: coward,despairing, ready to compromise, submissive

E.g. 'That's interesting,I didn't know that' 'what you accuse us is true.I'm to blame.I was driving the car and killed the little girl'; 'what can I possibly say?you know what happened';

● About the HOTEL Writer : Arthur Hailey

----5 April 1920 – 24 November 2004

Finished in 1965

This novel was adapted into a movie in 1967, and in 1983 turned into a television series, airing for five years on ABC. In the TV series the St. Gregory Hotel was moved from New Orleans to San Francisco.

It is the story happened within 5 workdays in an independent New Orleans hotel, the St. Gregory, and its management's struggle to regain profitability and avoid being merged by the O'Keefe chain of hotels. In the end, the hotel manages to remain its independence finally because it was bought by an old rich man, Albert Wells . For he was taken good care of by Christine Francis personally, without knowing he was rich.

•Contents

The novel is consist of series of incidents. Including a attempted rape to Marsha Preyscott by some teen-aged boys, Curtis O'Keefe’s intention to buy the hotel & love story, and of course the blackmail. Also a pilferage of thousands of dollars and jewelries form the Duke & Duchess…… All these incidents seemed unrelated but were solved successfully by the hotel general manager , Peter McDermott.

All the hotel staff knew it is Albert Wells who would gonna buy the hotel. The Duke was died in an elevator accident which lead to the survival of Duchess from the police. The thief ran away with that money.

Warren Trent was happy that he could retain his hotel being its chairman. While Peter was appointed the Executive vice-President of St. Gregory.

•Ending

That's all !Thank you!