I think of Melville the innovative writer, his popularity-and income-waning as his daring increased, contemplating the act of writing considered in itself as a bleak task performed for money. I think of Melville the sailor, accustomed to wide sea vistas and many sea duties, recoiling at the confined, reduced lives of New York City office workers. What a pleasure it is to return to a work of genius and find it inexhaustible! What a host of insights, what a web of subtleties, are contained within this short account of the breakdown of one man in a five man office!
I think of Melville the innovative writer, his popularity-and income-waning as his daring increased, contemplating the act o What a pleasure it is to return to a work of genius and find it inexhaustible! What a host of insights, what a web of subtleties, are contained within this short account of the breakdown of one man in a five man office! I think of Melville the sailor, accustomed to wide sea vistas and many sea duties, recoiling at the confined, reduced lives of New York City office workers. The work is presented here exactly as it was originally published in Putnam's magazine-to, sadly, critical disdain.more The tale is one of the final works of fiction published by Melville before, slipping into despair over the continuing critical dismissal of his work after Moby-Dick, he abandoned publishing fiction. Set in the mid-19th century on New York City's Wall Street, it was also, perhaps, Herman Melville's most prescient story: what if a young man caught up in the rat race of commerce finally just said, "I would prefer not to"? Set in the mid-19th century on New York City's Wall Street, it was also, perhaps, Herman Melville's most prescient story: what if a young man caught up in the rat race of commer Academics hail it as the beginning of modernism, but to readers around the world-even those daunted by Moby-Dick- Bartleby the Scrivener is simply one of the most absorbing and moving novellas ever. Academics hail it as the beginning of modernism, but to readers around the world-even those daunted by Moby-Dick- Bartleby the Scrivener is simply one of the most absorbing and moving novellas ever.