The Confidence-Man (Unabridged)
Written by Herman Melville
Narrated by Bryan Godwin
1/5
()
About this audiobook
The novel's title refers to its central character, an ambiguous figure who sneaks aboard a Mississippi steamboat on April Fool's Day. This stranger attempts to test the confidence of the passengers, whose varied reactions constitute the bulk of the text. In this work Melville is at his best illustrating the human masquerade. Each person, including the reader, is forced to confront that in which he places his trust.
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.
More audiobooks from Herman Melville
Moby Dick Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Top 10 Short Stories - American 19th: The top ten short stories of the 19th century written by American authors. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsB. J. Harrison Reads Moby Dick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bartleby the Scrivener and other stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to The Confidence-Man (Unabridged)
Related audiobooks
The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Bartleby the Scrivener, A Story of Wall Street. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mark Twain: The Short Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ulysses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tristram Shandy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Very Best of O. Henry Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pierre or The Ambiguities (Unabridged) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMichael Kohlhaas (English Translation) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finnegans Wake Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Short Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mayor of Casterbridge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dubliners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Humorous Short Stories of Mark Twain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Moby Dick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babbitt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Mysterious Stranger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heart of Darkness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Typee Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Pickwick Papers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Of Human Bondage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great Expectations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Magic Skin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Waste Land and Other Poems: read by Edoardo Ballerini Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Jew of Malta Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Gilded Age Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Soldiers' Pay Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Pudd'nhead Wilson: A Tale by Mark Twain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Action & Adventure Fiction For You
The Hobbit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Gods [TV Tie-In]: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Golden Son Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragon Teeth: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Billy Summers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Djinn City Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sand Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Around the World in 80 Days: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Closed and Common Orbit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Swamp Story: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Red Rising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Have We Done: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ragged Edge of Night Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5River Wild: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Strain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Happiness for Beginners: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Count of Monte Cristo Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5SILO (Book 1) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Record of a Spaceborn Few Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rider of Lost Creek Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Picnic in the Ruins Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roverandom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Across the Sand Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bow Before the Elf Queen: The Elf Queen Book 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Untraceable Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Confidence-Man (Unabridged)
1 rating0 reviews