Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street by Herman Melville

Originally Posted by taken de Wikipedia

"Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" is a long short story, or novelette, by American author Herman Melville (1819-1891). The story first appeared, anonymously, in Putnam's Magazine in two parts. The first part appeared in November 1853, with the conclusion published in December 1853. It was reprinted in Melville's The Piazza Tales in 1856 with minor textual alterations.

It's a really unique story in the sense that Melville wrote this as a jaded response towards the fanbase because he was embittered toward the public about his lack of success from Moby Dick, his magnum opus.

Has anyone ever read this? I certainly have, and I probably will again in the near future. In fact, it's the same story where I foudn the infamous quote: "I would prefer not to."

[Oz.]

I love Herman Melville and I loved this story. I read it last summer for a class and I ended up writing an essay about it in which I portrayed Bartleby as a martyr for the middle class worker. It's a great story, though I preferred "Benito Cereno."