Customer Reviews

Bartleby, the Scrivener A Story of Wall-Street

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This review is for the free Kindle edition of this novella. The novella is available for purchase in several book formats, some of which contain excellent critical essays on this important American author and his work. This Kindle edition contains only the text of the novella, but it is free and that's great.

"Bartleby the Scrivener" is a very accessible short novella by the author of "Moby Dick." It tells the story of a strange young man named Bartleby who shows up one morning at a New York law firm and is employed as a copyist (scrivener.) In those days (mid-nineteenth century), legal work was horrendously tedious for the clerks since huge briefs and depositions had to be copied by hand by men who did nothing all day but write a clear hand (and try not to leave ink blots on the paper,) and then check their work by reading it aloud back to each other.

This is one of my favorite novellas (really a long short story). Wittily narrated by the harassed lawyer who owns the law firm, it describes the characters of those copyists who are employed there, and tells of the strange Bartleby who just decides to stop doing any work one day, telling his exasperated employer that he "prefers not to."

The story is a wonderful mixture of high comedy, pathos and fascinating commentary on the human condition. I re-read it at least once a year, and I always enjoy it and get something fresh from Melville's wise insights and his wonderful wit.

Highly recommended.

I pulled this old short story by Melville of the shelf (so to speak - I downloaded a free version onto my Kindle) because the occupy Wall Street movement triggered my memory of it. I must say I enjoyed it this time so much more than I did previous readings. This short story (along with Faulkner's The Bear) is one of the most perfect short stories ever written. While on the surface it seems just a simple story beneath it lies huge questions that still plague Wall Street and the country today. Bartleby is the icon of the displaced worker. He has been tossed aside by the US Postal Service after a career of service performing one of the least appealing and most useless jobs our society has to offer. It is a thankless job that never ends -- sorting dead letters. While a total anacronism, I couldn't help but think of men in the concentration camps who had the jobs of hauling and sorting the dead bodies at Nazi death camps. It is a depersonalizing, dehumanizing job that's made even worse by the fact that he was let go from this senseless, hopeless job arbitrarily and capriciously be a new administration in office -- they were probably trying to balance the budget! Yet there is no malice in Bartleby. His is not a protest against the 99%, against big government, against abuses on Wall Street... he's just beaten down and does not care if he lives or dies. He is inertia. The lawyer whose copy shop this is does not even see what's going on around him. He sees himself as a kind person, a charitable person... but he's so much a part of the system that he cannot see the how it destroys man's humanity. He has no ambitions. He was set for life in a gentlemanly profession, wherein he did not want to exert himself in the slightest. His work was an avocation, a passtime that brought in the maximum return on the minimum investment. He does not see his own cruelty by participating in a totally corrupt system of high finance and lawsuits, a system that crushes those at the bottom rungs without a second thought and still thinks that everything is right with the world. This is a beautiful yet painful story to read. Someone should pass out copies at the Occupy Wall Street protests all across the country to be read by those participating (so they have a better idea of what they are fighting) and those whom they are protesting against (so they understand how their way of living is daily destroying thousands of lifes and millions of souls.

"I would prefer not to"

Before photocopiers and electronics, scriveners were clerks and copyists. In a small New York law firm, Bartleby is hired as a scrivener. his response to every question and task demanded of him was "I would prefer not to." The narrator's mood shifts runs the gamut of emotions, and we're left trying to figure Bartleby out. Is he mentally ill? An anhedonist? Why can't he be fired?

Melville's short story is interesting, and it asks a lot of questions - not only of Bartleby but the narrator himself. In a way, it's very dark and odd, but highly readable.

And it's free. What else could you want?

I lean heavily on my Kindle when I travel. With that said, I'm constantly searching for works that will accommodate the itinerant lifestyle that one finds on the road. Accessible works that can be read in one sitting--whether that sitting be on a regional flight or amidst the dead time between appointments--are gems I'm constantly on the look out for.

This version of Bartleby is such a gem. Compact, well formatted, and much less dense than that story of the white whale, I was pleasantly surprised to find something by Melville I could comprehend and appreciate. Nothing more than the text of the short story is to be found here, so if you're looking for more, you might want to try Bartleby the Scrivener: Complete Text with Integrated Study Guide from Shmoop. If only looking for a short detour from the confines of your traveler's agenda, though, here be a chance to stray.

This has stayed with me over the years because of how timeless the story is. The writing is sharp and the story is oddly intriguing.

I love short stories. This one kept my attention almost until the end. The end was odd and deflating.

I read lots of short stories, and the most interesting ones I will re-read to my husband when we have time together. This one will not be re-read. It's interesting, but for me not worth reading twice. I loved the first three-fourths of the story though. Detailed and funny.

One of my favorite short stories is "The Yellow Wallpaper" which is also free here on amazon kindle. I greatly recommend it over this one. But if you've got some time on your hands, and ready for fun read with an apathetic ending, read on!