Bartleby, The Scrivener

Written by Herman Melville

Narrated by B. J. Harrison

The life of a scrivener can be a dull one. After all, your entire occupation has to do with the hand-written copying of law documents. But when Bartleby arrives, he turns the office upside down with the enigmatic phrase: “I prefer not to.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: B.J. Harrison
• Release date: Jan 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781937091477

Herman Melville

Herman Melville (1819-1891) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. Following a period of financial trouble, the Melville family moved from New York City to Albany, where Allan, Herman’s father, entered the fur business. When Allan died in 1832, the family struggled to make ends meet, and Herman and his brothers were forced to leave school in order to work. A small inheritance enabled Herman to enroll in school from 1835 to 1837, during which time he studied Latin and Shakespeare. The Panic of 1837 initiated another period of financial struggle for the Melvilles, who were forced to leave Albany. After publishing several essays in 1838, Melville went to sea on a merchant ship in 1839 before enlisting on a whaling voyage in 1840. In July 1842, Melville and a friend jumped ship at the Marquesas Islands, an experience the author would fictionalize in his first novel, Typee (1845). He returned home in 1844 to embark on a career as a writer, finding success as a novelist with the semi-autobiographical novels Typee and Omoo (1847), befriending and earning the admiration of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Oliver Wendell Holmes, and publishing his masterpiece Moby-Dick in 1851. Despite his early success as a novelist and writer of such short stories as “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “Benito Cereno,” Melville struggled from the 1850s onward, turning to public lecturing and eventually settling into a career as a customs inspector in New York City. Towards the end of his life, Melville’s reputation as a writer had faded immensely, and most of his work remained out of print until critical reappraisal in the early twentieth century recognized him as one of America’s finest writers.

Reviews for Bartleby, The Scrivener

[gmillar_8 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I gave it three stars because it's pretty good - but - damn, Melville can be convoluted, long-winded, unnecessary and difficult to get into. Having said all that, I remember both the stories well so the writing must be good. It's obviously effective. In today's critical atmosphere, Melville would have been vilified for the stereotype of the "bad black guys" used in Benito Cereno. Today's critics love to pull things like that apart and an awful lot of them don't critique the storytelling; they slam the story vehicle. The book will remain in my collection of Dover Thrift Editions but I won't be seeking out copies of other Melville works unless they turn up in one of the Dover Thrift books or the Kings Treasuries of Literature. There are other authors I like much better and many of their works I still haven't read.

[Cynthia Rostankowski · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great presentation of a captivating story. It changes how we understand those around us.

[juva_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A New York lawyer hires a third law clerk for his office. At first, Bartleby, the new clerk, produces well but unaccountably, he begins refusing to do common tasks. The lawyer is angry, but cannot sustain his indignation in the face of Bartleby's passive attitude. Gradually, Bartleby ceases to do any work but simple sits idle all day long. Unwilling to call the police, the lawyer chooses instead to move his offices leaving Bartleby for the next tenets to worry about.Later, Bartleby dies in prison. This is an odd, surreal tale that has elements of psychological horror. It's a haunting story that is ripe with nonspecific meaning. The author allows the reader to draw their own conclusions.

[luli81_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

To a sensitive being, pity is not seldom pain. And when at last it is perceived that such pity cannot lead to effectual succor, common sense bids the soul be rid of it. Bartleby, the ScrivenerLife glues us together in ways we can?t anticipate, obliging us to broaden our individual frames of reference in order to imagine the other, overcoming our self-centered blindness.That inevitable interconnectedness is most plausible in Melville?s most enduring and intriguing short novellas Bartleby, the Scrivever and Benito Cereno.When a New York lawyer needs to hire another copyist, it is Bartleby who responds to his advertisement, and arrives "pallidly neat, pitiably respectable, incurably forlorn."At first a diligent employee, he soon begins to refuse work, saying only "I would prefer not to." . So begins the story of Bartleby?passive to the point of absurdity yet extremely disturbing?which rapidly turns from farce to inexplicable tragedy. The employer being a first person, conscious narrator who uses the piece of literature he composes as a means of contemplating his situation in life. It becomes clear that his use of Christian and classical imagery hints at an understanding of what is right and wrong and some ?partial- awareness of his own moral deficiency. I have to admit I was more than puzzled by this eccentric clerk, I couldn?t understand his passive refusal to work and I changed my view upon him several times along with the biased narrator, sometimes seeing him as a sort of Christ-figure or an exploited worker, others as a Thoreau-like practitioner of passive resistance.It wasn?t until I read the last lines of the tale that the setting of the story, this business world symbolized by omnipresent Wall Street buildings surrounding the office, pinpointing the growing division between employer and employee and between the capitalist and working classes, took full force, making me ponder how the choice of one particular perspective determine the responsibility of our actions. In short, who is to blame?In Benito Cereno we come across a na?ve American sea captain who stumbles upon the remnants of a violent rebellion in a merchant Spanish vessel called San Dominick which carried black slaves, but fails to recognize the horrors that have occurred on board. Overflowing with symbolic richness and narrative complexity Melville manages to depict human depravity and moral relativism in little more than fifty pages. "Shadows present, foreshadowing deeper shadows to come." Benito CerenoSpanish or American. Captain or slave. Black or white. How disastrous the consequences are in the way we fill out those categories. And whereas I have read some opinions emphasizing the racist stereotypes of this short story, I can advocate in saying that the patronizing and limited views of the American sea captain are all proved wrong, one by one. Also in pointing out that although the African slaves can be seen as representatives of pure evil in the brutal way they kill his white masters, Melville also shows both how the mutineers of the San Dominick abide by America?s founding principles ??Live Free or Die? ? and also how the barbarism of slavery gives way to other barbaric acts. And how the use of Christian imagery adds to the indictment of European Colonization in particular and Western arrogance and racism in general. In both stories we encounter a confident person who is unexpectedly confronted with the mysterious ?other? that challenges his snug and comfortable outlook on life, testing his goodness in presenting him with morally ambiguous situations. His reactions, our reactions, need to derive far from beyond our individual self so we can embrace the different, who is starving for understanding, and become one in this richly atomized world we live in.?But the past is passed; why moralize upon it? Forget it. See, yon bright sun has forgotten it all, and the blue sea, and the blue sky; these have turned over new leaves.??Because they have no memory,? he dejectedly replied; ?because they are not human.? Benito Cereno

[n.t.embe · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book, with its two stories, Bartleby and Benito Cereno, is not what I expected. What a dense read! For a book just barely making it over the 100-page mark, it took me forever to will myself through it! Look at the difference between the start date and the finish for this one! Every time I picked it up I felt like I was being forced to swallow lead, or to walk a mile in a pool of TAR. I felt like I was getting nowhere, anywhere, and fast. And, to my frustrated and wry surprise, I got exactly that.

Herman Melville... I don't know what was his issue, but the man took things that could be explosive, and instead turned them into dust. If I were to choose a handful of words to describe this book, it'd be: "Dense. Gathering dust. Slowly sinking. Numbness." There was barely even the sensation of my frustrations until I reached the end of the book! It's so LOUDLY EMPTY. It's like having a block shoved through the side of your skull, one millimeter at a time, and every moment it sinks further and deeper in, you stop reacting... you lose your emotions... you stop thinking... you're just reading... you're just reading... you're just reading... you're just reading... you're ju--

You see where I'm going here?

The concepts were intriguing, I guess... *Seems a little reluctant to even give the book that* But GOD. With the way this man writes, I want to SHOOT myself to just get it over with! It's WORSE than watching paint dry! Or a snail cross the entire desert! Or having a staring contest for WEEKS ON END with a WALL. A perfectly BLANK... WHITE... WALL!!! *Flails a bit as her irritation abruptly gets the better of her* It's POINTLESS to read these books! POINTLESS! MELVILLE, HOW DARE YOU WRITE SUCH ABSTRACT INSANITY!! *Points a finger accusingly at him, breathing hard and one eye twitching uncontrollably for a moment*

Okay. That aside, this review is highly unprofessional. I cannot stand the man's writing. It's the type of book where you read it, and your brain just shuts down. Completely. There are no thoughts, no care or concern for the story or its characters: you're just dead afterwards. My friend Rain Misoa said she read Moby Dick, and after struggling through TWO of Melville's short stories, I want to whirl on her incredulously and SHAKE her, DEMANDING how she sat through that MONSTER BOOK without ending up throwing herself off of a building!! Maybe only people who enjoy the morbid "Questions about the universe" penned in the underlying tones of these stories will care, but even a philosophy dork like me can't take stuff like this. -3-;; I just refuse to.

If you want to give it a shot because it's a classic example of Melville's works, then go right ahead and be my guest, but there's no way I'm recommending this to anyone. =_e ...it hurts the brain too much.

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Reason for Reading: I've decided to try Melville House's Novella book club for 6 months and plan to read the two selections, the month following their arrival. Hence this is my second January read.I was not actually looking forward to this. I once tried to read "Moby Dick" and failed miserably. I cannot recall if I've run across Melville in anthologies but if I have obviously it is not something that I've remembered. Melville's writing style is a touch difficult for me and I found this a bit difficult to get into with the first several pages long-winded. However, this changed quite rapidly and I became quite smitten with this story and must say it was not Bartleby I was most intrigued with but the narrator. Bartleby is a most curious fellow, one who starts work in his position as a copyist, but gentlemanly refuses to do any other work by politely saying "I prefer not to." to any such requests. Only speaking when spoken to, this solitary man seems to always be present at work and when not working diligently is seen standing staring into space or out the window at a view of a brick wall. His condition deteriorates until he eventually "prefers not to" work at all, leave the premises, or be let go from his position. He becomes a peculiar, perhaps mentally unbalanced, perhaps supernaturally guided (what does he live upon?) character.However, I found my interest laying mostly with the character of the narrator, a lawyer, the Master in Chancery for the state of New York. At first impressed with his new employee's fast and diligent output of quality work, he starts to notice the man's peculiarities. When Bartleby virtually refuses to engage in any other work than copying the lawyer is flummoxed, leaving him be and making up reasons for the man's behaviour. This is in character with the lawyer though as he has done the same with his two other employees, one who is disagreeable in the mornings, the other in the afternoons. The lawyer has learned to work around this and sympathize with the men by inventing character flaws and health reasons for their behaviour. Bartleby, however, becomes unfathomable and yet the lawyer continues to show him kindness and think the best of him. Things become intense though once the lawyer finds Bartleby in dishabille in his chambers early one morning, doors locked from the inside and the lawyer finds that he is allowing himself to walk around the block several times upon Bartleby's orders. From this point on Bartelby becomes the one with the power and the lawyer eventually must leave his own chambers and move elsewhere to be rid of the man; this then starts a downward spiral of events for Bartleby which he can no longer control nor the lawyer's aid be accepted.I found this story entirely intriguing and a curious look into the human condition. I honestly don't know what to make of it; what is the point or moral being made here. Even though I don't share this viewpoint, I do feel that many readers may find themselves siding with Bartelby and perhaps finding this a story of the downward drudgery of the clerical worker's monotonous plight. But I felt Bartelby went into this position with a chip on his shoulder and I see it more of a psychological tale of how the lawyer tries to help someone who obviously is in need of help both socially and mentally and yet there is only so much one can do to help another when they are unwilling to help themselves. Thought-provoking.

[carmenere_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The first of the two novella?s presented is Bartleby. Bartleby is a Wall Street Scrivener in the mid 1850?s. His position, that of copier of legal proceedings, is now obsolete but in the mid 19th century it was imperative that legal documents be copied by a team of scrivener?s and then checked for accuracy. Overtime it becomes obvious that Bartleby is not a team player and his supervisor lacks the skills to take on the situation professionally. It?s an odd little story with an odd little ending but worthy of your time as there will always by Bartleby?s and ineffective supervisor?s in the world and this story is a good little exercise in ?If I were in this situation I would???.? The second story, Benito Cereno, is a wonderful piece of writing. Melville builds suspense as Captain Delano boards the troubled ship The San Dominick which is manned by Captain Cereno, a few sailors and slaves who are free to roam the ship and clean and sharpen, of all things, axes. What?s going on here? Is Cereno mad?! Is he na?ve?! How could such bad luck befall one ship?! The reader will be intrigued throughout the short story and perhaps shocked to discover the truth. Truly a great read.

[kevmalone · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Bartleby - the eponymous character is the central enigma here. Obviously an allegory, but of what? Interpretations abound. My opinion - the narrator's ambition. These conflicting opinions make it, to my mind, the better of the two novellas here and one of Melville's better pieces with prose much less intractable than that he normally employs. A four star work.Benito Cerino - much admired and considered a complicated allegory by some. The story is told from the vantage of Amasa Delano - a real person, and is based on an account of an incident from that person's memoirs. Memorable only for the literary conceit that forces a "what's going on?" mindset in the reader, this somewhat plodding narrative showcases Melville's linguistic excesses. Hailed recently thus "In our own time of terror and torture, Benito Cereno has emerged as the most salient of Melville's works" on which opinion I call bullshit . For those who feel it a seminal piece exposing colonial excess I call "Go read Heart of Darkness". Two stars.Overall then three stars - just about VFM if you buy the Thrift edition.

[mabuharaz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Profound metaphorical worth reading. Sometimes one keep doing things without questioning the consequences, yet listening to Bartleby story awaken this dead thinking

[appleton_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Who, or I suppose better yet, what exactly is Bartleby. The story's main character may represent some characteristic of society that Melville was disenchanted with. Readers interested in paradoxes or absurdity rendered in the humanities may regard the 20 or so pages of Meliville's story with special interest. The humble scrivener's job is akin to the copy and paste function on a modern computer. That along with the details of his past job helps to paint a picture of this sorrowful character who's clandestine life style support his mantra, "I'd prefer not to." Concepts of Christian charity are touched upon through the narrative musings of Bartleby's employer. At least two interesting film adaptations exist of this story, one of which features Crispen Glover (Back to the Future, Willard) as Bartleby.

[praymont_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A scrivener, Bartleby, is trapped in the soul-killing monotony of his job, a job that leads a co-worker to get soused every day at lunch. After a while, Bartleby starts refusing his assigned work, but in turning away from his tasks he doesn’t turn to doing anything else. His rebellion is passive – staring at the brick walls that enclose him and the others on Wall Street, he becomes a standing rebuke of superficial ‘busy-ness’, a rebuke from which his employer eventually flees.I appreciated this story more after reading Mordecai Marcus’ interpretation of it (‘Melville’s Bartleby as a Psychological Double’, College English 23 [1962]: 365-8). Marcus sees Bartleby as his employer’s ‘double’. That is, this recalcitrant worker is a part of the lawyer’s own psyche, one that suffers neglect in the urban office. Something essential to its sustenance is missing. Obdurate in the face of all monetary enticements, this increasingly spectral other can't fit its assigned place in the urban business hub. It belongs to nature, the lawyer’s own nature, and is marooned in 'unnature' (Wall Street). Naturally, it withers in this world of material plenty.The story reminds me of Theodore Roethke's poem 'Dolor', with its lines about 'the inexorable sadness of pencils' and 'desolation in immaculate public places'.

[steve02476 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

That was a puzzling and provocative story! My 85-year-old mom recommended it to me, so I had to read it. The writing is old fashioned as you’d expect from something from the 1850s. But the quandaries of dealing with weird and unfortunate people are the same today.

[paroof · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After getting about a 1/3 of the way through, I realized I had read this already at some point in my life. Was definitely worth another read. If you want to know why Melville is considered a genius writer, but can't fathom reading Moby Dick, here is the book for you.Recommended for classic literature lovers.

[ionas_7 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wrote the draft for this review for Goodreads’ Short Story Club where members are offered various short stories and are invited to write comments on them; thus it is assumed that the readers of the comments have read the story in question, and I also assume that the readers of this review have read the story. I don’t know what to make of this story, and am not sure how many stars it deserves. I don’t know whether “scriveners” or “law-copyists" exist today –perhaps, perhaps not. It’s a very strange story. Bartleby begins to refuse to do the work he’s paid to do and which he generally does satisfactorily. He says only “I would prefer not to”. The narrator was a “good” man and thus he didn’t like, or was able, to throw Bartleby out as soon as it became clear there was a distinct problem with the man. Bartleby didn’t seem to have any reason for refusing to do his usual work, other than he would “”prefer not to”. He never explains why. The only feasible reason for him preferring not to do his work seems to be some sort of bizarre mental/psychological/emotional complaint. While Bartleby is the protagonist in the story, it also deals at length with the narrator’s psychological profile and what he can do to get rid of Bartleby without transgressing his own boundaries of what is proper and ethical conduct. And thus he absolutely has a corresponding issue with “preferring not to”. Bartleby continues with his “preferring not to” until the end, i.e. until he dies. He doesn’t seem to learn anything from his experience, or perhaps he has a death wish. I repeat, I found it all very strange. If any psychologists or psychiatrists should happen to read this review, perhaps they would care to comment. What is wrong with Bartleby? He seems to be caught in a rut. Even if it means that he will starve to death, he feels obliged to say “I would prefer not to”. For example, “eat dinner”. I have no idea what “dead letters” are, and didn’t get anything out of the final explanatory paragraph.

[lunarsong · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the most unique stories I’ve ever read. Very memorable. The book is quite short, but it’s stuck with me over a decade. Absolutely hilarious, although it’s a very odd type of humor. Gets funnier every time I read it. The humor is definitely has a dark edge to it near the end of the story. There’s nothing unbelievable or unrealistic in this story, but it is unbelievably bizzare. I should probably explain why this book is so bizarre and memorable, but “I would prefer not to.” (If you read it, you’ll get why that last bit was hilarious.)

[sarahlh-41506 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wait, I actually liked a Herman Melville work? Color me absolutely shocked. I've read it three times now (well, it is a short novella) and each time I stumble upon something new. At first look, it seemed rather straight-forward, but with each reread I saw how layered it actually was. Surprising how a story about a man who simply preferred not to do anything could be so eventful. Anyone looking for a quick but satisfying read should pick this up.

[reneepaule · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well, this is an interesting piece. So much has been said about it and I have nothing further to offer. Worth reading by all those who like deep thought and contemplation.

A wonderful piece of Humanity!

[greeniezona · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Given my obsession with Melville House Books, it was inevitable that I would eventually get around to ordering this little novella, as it appears to be a mascot or talisman of sorts for them. So, indeed, it was a part of my last order.

I have to say, I would have enjoyed it more with less hype. (But would I have bought it if not for the hype? Probably not.) I kept wanting it to knock me over with its greatness, but that would be entirely antithetical to everything about this book. Rather, this book has grown on me slowly, and I find I think only more fondly of it now that it has long been closed on my shelf. I will definitely have to read this again after more time has passed.

But what is this novella? It is a story related by a powerful lawyer, telling the story of Bartleby, who he hires as a copyist. Bartleby seems to be everything he would want in an employee, quiet, efficient, until one day he responds to a request with a gentle, but firm, "I would prefer not to." Bartleby's motivations and life story are almost entirely speculation on the part of the nameless narrator, who is thoroughly incapable of understanding his softly recalcitrant employee.

Recommended if you read expecting quietly wonderful.

[pepperwings · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is such an odd story. I'm not really sure what to think of it, and the ending is anticlimactic, it was *interesting* and that's why I gave it an ok rating, but it's mostly perplexing.

[stilton_6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Unexplained Intrusion, as in Kafka, or more particularly Godot, Turkey and Nippers two halves of the same personality (one calm in the morning, the other in the afternoon, thus forming between them a single functional person), the young boy who occasionally appears, and Bartleby the anti-Godot who never leaves ("but surely tomorrow" says the narrator). Yes, Melville wasn't the first (Schubert wrote his B-flat sonata in 1828: that trill is Bartleby) and the parallels are all accidents; except there aren't really any accidents, we're all in the same universe, some of us just see things before others. The Unexplained Intrusion is always life itself, of course. It is also (which seldom goes noticed in Melville) very funny.

[terris-7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This (very short) book (really a short story) is so funny, until it's suddenly sad. It is about a man who begins to work for the narrator in a law office. He works well until he "prefers not to." And he uses this sentence over and over again until it becomes a real problem for his employer (the narrator). I had only read Moby Dick by Herman Melville, so I was glad to read this and find that I enjoyed his writing so much! He has a wonderful sense of humor, but also a good sense for humanity, and kind of pull your heartstrings from both sides! I was surprised and pleased, and plan to read more Melville in the future!

[meandmybooks-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow. I thought I must have read this in my youth, but now I'm sure I would have remembered Bartleby had I encountered him before! Bartleby, employed as a lawyer's clerk, takes his passive resistance to exerting any effort to the ultimate extreme. If Bartleby were merely disinclined to work, his employer, literature's most accommodating employer, and we, the story's readers, would know what to make of him. Bartleby, however, is not inclined to humor us in that or in any regard. To our requests that he explain or justify his behavior, accept our sympathy, or act according to convention, reason, or self-preservation, Bartleby will respond, with quiet determination, "I would prefer not to." Somehow, in his refusal to be controlled, pressured, or in any way manipulated, I found him perversely inspiring.

[shadowbarbara · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Weird story & not believable.

[stef7sa-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Entertaining and funny little story about a mysterious young clerk. It reminds me of Kafka's Metamorphosis in that an alien element is suddenly introduced in a closed completely ordered world, causing problems and distress.

[gbill_7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In deciding simply not to perform tasks he doesn’t want to do anymore at work, to the point of scorn and later absurdity, it seems to me that Bartleby (1853) is one of the first existential heroes in literature, and Melville was well ahead of his time. Spoiler alert... After eventually being let go in the most humane way possible, Bartleby doesn’t leave the office, and when he’s put into prison, he sits on his own, refusing food, sitting quietly and doing nothing. One wonders throughout the short novel, what has led Bartleby to this state? On the last page it’s revealed that he had worked in the Dead Letters Office in Washington. Seeing all of those correspondences burned, which had possibly meant so much when they were penned, seems not only dehumanizing and severely depressing, but such an outright expression of man’s transience and the ultimate meaninglessness of our lives that it leads to Bartleby’s debilitating angst. “Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!” indeed. Just this quote, on pity: “My first emotions had been those of pure melancholy and sincerest pity; but just in proportion as the forlornness of Bartleby grew and grew to my imagination, did that same melancholy merge into fear, that pity into repulsion. So true it is, and so terrible too, that up to a certain point the thought or sight of misery enlists our best affections; but, in certain special cases, beyond that point it does not. They err who would assert that invariably this is owing to the inherent selfishness of the human heart. It rather proceeds from a certain hopefulness of remedying excessive and organic ill. To a sensitive being, pity is not seldom pain. And when at last it is perceived that such pity cannot lead to effectual succor, common sense bids the soul be rid of it.”

[unclebob53703 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great story, but this edition is more of a magazine than a book.

[russellbittner · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There’s absolutely nothing under the sun that compels me to review Herman Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener except the sheer brilliance of both (the star, that is, as well as the novella). The ghost of one of America’s greatest writers may be grateful for the attention—especially since Melville lived the last decades of his life in near obscurity—but I don’t believe in ghosts except as they appear in certain plays.

I picked this novella out of the stacks one afternoon at the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library while awaiting my turn at one of the computers. Ten minutes later, I’d forgotten all about computers and my desire to use one of them. Yes, it was that good!

It’s been years since I last read any of Melville’s work. And the truth is that even now, at the age of sixty-two, I have yet to read Moby Dick. Why this novella isn’t at the top of the list of required reading for high school sophomores is a mystery to me. The language is simple, the plot compelling. And who doesn’t love a mystery—especially when it’s as well written as this one?

I can only encourage you to run right out to your local library and pick it up. If you’re lucky enough to find a copy of the novella on its lonesome, it won’t cost you much more than a buck—which, if you live in the great State of New York, is about 1/13 the price of a pack of cigarettes. Today. (The price of cigarettes will certainly have increased by this time next month to something approaching obscenity.)

But back to Melville. The man is a marvel. And although I’m no real fan of his poetry (in which he more than dabbled the last thirty years of his life), his prose turns cartwheels.

Bartleby the Scrivener,apart from being downright funny in parts, ends on a note that would rival Poe’s imaginative machinations. No teasers here, but trust me: if you ever again come across the expression “dead letter” (no, not dead French letter!), don’t be surprised if your mind and memory turn immediately to Melville and Bartleby the Scrivener.

N. B.: I gave this novella five stars only because I can’t give it a perfect ten.

RRB
1/21/13
Brooklyn, NY

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Obviously quite well written, but it didn't make me feel much of anything except sorry for Bartleby and especially the narrator. It was just sad.

[aoibhealfae · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bartleby The Scrivener are a ridiculously significant modern tale from late 19th century which question morality and humanity that goes beyond the world of productivity and capitalism. As much as Melville drawing the humanism inspiration from Hawthorne in science, he did it by human ethics. In a simpler way of generalizing this book, this is one weird crazy book. They call this book an absurdist and existentialist fiction but I find its a lot harder to round up the author easily. I genuinely prefer the discussion on this book than the book itself because the book is confusing while reading but became more clear when you've find that its filled with metaphors on some kind.

The story is narrated by a lawyer who told a story of the most peculiar person he ever met; Bartleby. He had problems regarding his scriveners, Nipper and Turkey who have their own temperament which leads to the hiring of Bartleby. At first, he was a good and wonderful employee until one day when asked by the narrator to proofread a document, Bartleby would say "I would prefer not to". The narrator let it slide until Bartleby grew increasingly unproductive and eccentric with his repetitive that he would prefer not to do everything asked by everyone even for his own well-being that it alarmed the narrator that he tried to persuade Bartleby to give a reason why but Bartleby would say continuously, "I would prefer not to".

A scrivener is a copyist. You could say it is a modern equivalent of a xerox machine. While in this story, Bartleby became the main focus due to his persistence and curious way of conduct that frightened everyone around him. He contrasted the world the narrator lived in. His depression became so infectious that the narrator who sympathize but fear him enough that he relocated his business after failing to nudge Bartleby to any form of work or life that Bartleby caused the tenants and new occupants trouble which lands him to even worst condition.

Some would consider Bartleby as a language and by his action, he became a verbal succubus sucking emotions around him just by his verbal persistence. He can also be seen as a victim of the modernity and this degradation began from his previous employment which the narrator sadly mourn the lost of humanity in him. The novel even question about the right of the living if only the living could choose to not proliferate under productivity. It also shows how being different can be misinterpreted if not being understood and in search of knowing, the narrator found himself unwittingly empathized with Bartleby who continued to eluded him by being passive until the narrator became helpless as it destroyed Bartleby from the inside. Maybe Bartleby aren't meant to be understood nor to be saved but the situation around him are relevant in this time to ignore the underlying clues embedded inside the novella. Even still, it alludes me.

[jimmychanga · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Starts out funny, but ends up quite moving and deep. There's something compelling about Bartleby, his extreme composure, his unflinching yet mild refusal. There's something unnervingly inhuman about him, precisely because behind that veneer you know there is something essentially human, vulnerable, and very much like ourselves. But we are not privy to the inner life that lies behind the blank expression, and Melville wisely does not let us in on it. It's hard not to feel sorry for both the narrator and for Bartleby as well, and the whole time I was reading it I was seeing myself assuming either role very easily, by a turn of fate or flip of coin.