Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street (The Art of the Novella series) (Paperback)

by Herman Melville (Author)
Key Phrases: Ginger Nut

Editorial Reviews

Review
(in full Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street) Short story by Herman Melville, published anonymously in 1853 in Putnam's Monthly Magazine. It was collected in his 1856 volume The Piazza Tales. Melville wrote "Bartleby" at a time when his career seemed to be in ruins, and the story reflects his pessimism. The narrator, a successful Wall Street lawyer, hires a scrivener named Bartleby to copy legal documents. Though Bartleby is initially a hard worker, one day, when asked to proofread, he responds, "I would prefer not to." As time progresses, Bartleby increasingly "prefers not to" do anything asked of him. Eventually he dies of self-neglect, refusing offers of help, while jailed for vagrancy. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
This beautifully packaged series of classic novellas includes the works of Anton Chekhov, Colette, Henry James, Herman Melville, and Leo Tolstoy. These collectible editions are the first single-volume publications of these classic tales, offering a closer look at this underappreciated literary form and providing a fresh take on the world's most celebrated authors.

The rat race of Wall Street is turned on its head when Bartleby the copier decides that he simply "would prefer not to" in this absorbing early modernist tale.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: The Art of the Novella (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974607800
• ISBN-13: 978-0974607801
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #681,831 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This item is part of The Art of Novella Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seemingly simple story about the choices we make daily, March 23, 2002

By	Linda Linguvic (New York City) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER: A Story of Wall Street (Hardcover)

Herman Melville wrote this story in 1853, two years after Moby Dick had been published and his writing career was beginning to lose its luster. Subtitled, "A Story of Wall Street", it is a seemingly simple story about a lawyer who hires a gentleman named Bartleby as a scrivener in his office. This was way back in the days before photocopy machines and scriveners performed the necessary tasks of tediously hand copying documents over and over. Bartleby was good at the copying part of his job, but when asked to proofread aloud one day he simply replied, "I prefer not to." From that moment forward, he used the phrase "I prefer not to" for every task requested of him, eventually "preferring not to" do any work whatsoever. The lawyer, who is astounded by Bartleby's attitude, tells the story in the first person.

The story is rich in language and yet spare in actual action. The reader is forced to think, and think seriously about the choices we make daily. Bartleby chose to rebel and become an anti-hero. But the real protagonist of the story is the lawyer, who is drawn into Bartleby's power and grows to admire him. The conclusion is sad, but inevitable. Recommended.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Imagine yourself in the Dead Letter Office, November 28, 1999

By	Simon (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener and Benito Cereno (Cliffs Notes) (Paperback)

The story of Bartleby is simply about a man loosing his will to live. It is intended to show the reader a dark side in all of us when the meaning of our existence is allowed to be challenged. The chilling image of Bartleby in his previous job at the Dead Letter Office leaves my imagination running wild, wondering about the contents of the letters and how Bartleby must have gone from concern to sadness to indifference about his own mortality as he read the messages written to those who can no longer receive them. I'm glad Melville left Bartleby's reason for being (or not being) a mystery. This way, any reader can relate to the story by drawing on their own experience.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good One, January 7, 2002

By	old_hyperbolic_squiggly (the netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER: A Story of Wall Street (Hardcover)

I'm not very big into fiction; in fact, I dislike most of it. But, Bartleby the Scrivener is one of those rare works I actually enjoy to read and reread. There are many theories on what this short narrative is "about" ... from Bartleby being a representation of the pokings of the socially-numbed narrator's "Higher Self" to a portrait of the four humor personality types (Bartleby being the melancholic). Whatever it is, I know I can relate to it. Anyone who has ever felt unhappy, trapped, confined in a drudge of a job yet deeply in touch with themselves, their spirit and passions, or unwittingly conscious of "the game" (i.e., most of your idealists) will probably swoon at this well-written tale of an imprisoned free-spirit.