"With difficulty I turned away from who had wanted to get rid of me so much."
-Bartleby, the scribe. Herman Melville
Data:
⭐4.2/5
Author: Herman Melville
Pages: 80
Publishing House: Melville House
ISBN: 0974607800
Synopsis:
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. 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"?
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. The work is presented here exactly as it was originally published in Putnam's magazine—to, sadly, critical disdain.
Review:
The book begins with a lawyer, he has two scriveners and a boy who helps him in exchange for some coins. Realizing that he needs another scrivener, one appears at his office door, his name is Bartleby. As the days go by, the lawyer realizes that Bartleby only eats a gingerbread cookie, just that. He does not live with the other scriveners and only sits down to do his work by the window.
Doubts and exasperation begin to grow in the lawyer, but he only receives one answer:
"-I would prefer not to."
-Bartleby, the scrivener, Herman Melville.
I read this story because of my younger sister, who in turn read this book for her as part of a school assignment. When I finished it she said, "This book ends in a very strange way." So naturally, curiosity won me over and I read it.
History.
This story takes place on Wall Street, New York, in the middle of the 19th century. Where a lawyer, without a name, begins to tell us of his life, and of the strange man he once knew, and of his mysterious history.
The world that Herman Melville presents to us is chaotic, which is still in the era of modernization, where factories grow day by day, children work and few are fortunate to be able to have a good job. A somber world, with light tints of color.
Characters:
Bartleby, our protagonist, is a man who seems to have no grace whatsoever. The only thing he does in his day to day is to write and politely reject the orders of his boss. A man, who is lost in his thoughts more often than one would imagine. A man who only locks himself in his world and lets the current carry him to his destination.
This character despaired and intrigued me at the same time, I wanted to know more about his past, the reason for their actions, which they don't mention until the end of the book.
We also have the lawyer, the one who has no name. An extremely patient character with Bartleby, and with those with whom he worked. We don't know much about him, because the only thing he does is narrate everything that surrounds him and not about him. Although, if he does tell us how he feels respect for Bartleby, he does it so that we can reflect on him and his feelings.
A man with too much patience, another mysterious man in this story.
The End.
The story happens only a few months, but the last chapters have a distance of years between each one. It is not until the last time that the lawyer tells you what he found out about Bartleby. It is not much, and many feelings that I felt while reading, such as exasperation and confusion disappeared. Trading for others like relief and tranquility.
My mind thought "ah, so this is why" and on the other hand it said, "just that, I was expecting something with more flavor".
Its end, despite solving those doubts that arose during the story, also raises many other questions.
Bartleby, the scrivener is a story that made me have mixed feelings and thoughts, where doubts and questions arose just to want to know the end of the story and its answers.
-Fer 🌻🌻
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