Herman Melville's "Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story of Wall Steet"

Hoping to improve his distressed financial situation, Herman Melville left New yourk and went to sea as a young common sailor. he returned to become an uncommon writer. His experiences, at sea became the basis for his early novels: Typee (1846), Omoo (1847), Mardi (1849), Redburn, and White-Jacket (1850). Ironically, with the publication of his masterpiece, Moby Dick (1851), Melville lost the popular success he had enjoyed with his earlier books, because his readers were not ready for its philosophical complexity. In "Bartleby, the Scrivener," Melville presents a quiet clerk in a law office whoce baffling "passive resistance" disrupts the life of his employer, a man who attempts to make sense of Bartleby's refusal to behave reasonably. The story takes us into the world of leagal offices in nineteenth-century New York. The narrator is a conveyancer, engaged in title searches and transfer of titles to prperty. he has had himself appointed as Master in Chancery -- a judge involved in the settlement of contract disputes. he has scriveners whorking for him, who -- with pen and ink -- make necessary copies of legal documents. Duns are bill collectors; the Tombs is a prison in New York City; a reference is a meeting between lawyers. The story refers to a fatal quarrel in which the actor John Colt killed the printer Samuel Adams. The narrator expects the reader to recognize biblical and classical allusions: Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt when she turned to look back at the destruction of Sodom. The Roman general and consul Marius, after he was driven from office, sought refuge in Carthage, an enemy city that he had destroyed. Petra is a deserted, ruined ancient city in Jordan. A few features of everyday life in Melvelle's day are no longer familiar to modern readers: For instance, Spitzenbergs are apples (if you're from Washington state, you may still know that!); anthracite is used for fuel,; a blacking box has shoe polish and rags in it.

[Bartleby -- Full Text] [The Mechanization of a Scrivener]

[The Mentally Disturbed Scrivener] [Bartleby's Preferences] [Virtual Preferences]

[Bartleby: A Study of the Workplace] [A Class Discussion!! Don't Miss This!]

[Robot Bartleby]

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