Bartleby, The Scrivener by Herman Melville (English) Paperback Book

Description: Bartleby, The Scrivener by Herman Melville "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" is a short story by the American writer Herman Melville, first serialized anonymously in two parts in the November and December 1853 issues of Putnams Magazine, and reprinted with minor textual alterations in his The Piazza Tales in 1856. A Wall Street lawyer hires a new clerk who, after an initial bout of hard work, refuses to make copy and any other task required of him, with the words "I would prefer not to". Numerous essays have been published on what, according to scholar Robert Milder, "is unquestionably the masterpiece of the short fiction" in the Melville canon. Melvilles major source for the story was an advertisement for a new book, The Lawyers Story, printed in both the Tribune and the Times for 18 February 1853. The book was published anonymously later that year but in fact was written by popular novelist James A. Maitland. This advertisement included the complete first chapter, which had the following opening sentence: "In the summer of 1843, having an extraordinary quantity of deeds to copy, I engaged, temporarily, an extra copying clerk, who interested me considerably, in consequence of his modest, quiet, gentlemanly demeanor, and his intense application to his duties". Melville biographer Hershel Parker points out that nothing else in the chapter besides this "remarkably evocative sentence" was "notable".[3] Critic Andrew Knighton notes the debt of the story to an obscure work from 1846, Robert Grant Whites Law and Laziness: or, Students at Law of Leisure. This source contains one scene and many characters - including an idle scrivener - that appear to have influenced Melvilles narrative.[4] Melville may have written the story as an emotional response to the bad reviews garnered by Pierre, his preceding novel. Christopher Sten suggests that Melville found inspiration in Ralph Waldo Emersons essays, particularly "The Transcendentalist" which shows parallels to "Bartleby". Bartleby is a scrivener-a kind of clerk or a copyist-"who obstinately refuses to go on doing the sort of writing demanded of him". During the spring of 1851, Melville felt similarly about his work on Moby Dick. Thus, Bartleby may represent Melvilles frustration with his own situation as a writer, and the story itself is "about a writer who forsakes conventional modes because of an irresistible preoccupation with the most baffling philosophical questions".[7] Bartleby may also be seen to represent Melvilles relation to his commercial, democratic society.[8 Melville made an allusion to the John C. Colt case in this short story. The narrator restrains his anger toward Bartleby, his unrelentingly difficult employee, by reflecting upon "the tragedy of the unfortunate Adams and the still more unfortunate Colt and how poor Colt, being dreadfully incensed by Adams [...] was unawares hurled into his fatal act". FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Author Biography Herman Melville (1819-1891) was an American novelist, sh Herman Melville (1819-1891) was an American novelist, sh Herman Melville (1819-1891) was an American novelist, sh Herman Melville (1819-1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet who received wide acclaort story writer, essayist, and poet who received wide acclaort story writer, essayist, and poet who received wide acclaort story writer, essayist, and poet who received wide acclaim for his earliest novels, such as "Typee" and "Redburn", bim for his earliest novels, such as "Typee" and "Redburn", bim Details ISBN1500629588 Author Herman Melville Short Title BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER Pages 46 Audience Age 14-18 Language English ISBN-10 1500629588 ISBN-13 9781500629588 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY FIC Residence New York City New York, US Birth 1819 Death 1891 Publisher Createspace Independent Publishing Platform Year 2014 Publication Date 2014-07-25 Imprint Createspace Independent Publishing Platform Audience Teenage / Young adult We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:93300675;

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