Herman Melville’s tale of corporate discontent, Bartleby, the Scrivener, tells the story of a quiet, hardworking legal copyist who works in an office in the Wall Street area of New York City. The business where he works handles the official financial paperwork of wealthy men. One day, Bartleby’s employer requests he proofread one of the documents he has copied. Bartleby declines the assignment with the inscrutable “I would prefer not,” the first of what will become many refusals. The utterance of this remark sets off a confounding set of actions and behavior, making the unsettling character of Bartleby one of Melville’s most enigmatic and unforgettable creations.
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"pretty much my first taste of melville and i was pleasantly surprised. enjoyable, ambiguous story with a memorable quote. amusing characters. actually, thinking about this is making me think of kafka's "blumfeld" and the ridiculous assistants. " — Rowena (4 out of 5 stars)
"pretty much my first taste of melville and i was pleasantly surprised. enjoyable, ambiguous story with a memorable quote. amusing characters. actually, thinking about this is making me think of kafka's "blumfeld" and the ridiculous assistants. "
“Stefan Rudnicki’s stately baritone embodies the story’s narrator, the stuffed-shirt Wall Street lawyer whose perplexed reaction to Bartleby is the substance of the story.”
" What a strange and wonderful story. Bartleby is probably the most mysterious character I've ever come across in twenty eight years of reading. "
" One of my all time favorite short stories, Bartleby saw life as it was for him. "
" I prefer not to review this story. "
" Is this the original post-modern story or what?Bartleby is the epitome of the existential man, free to prefer to not______. Melville was a genius. I may dive into Moby Dick now. "
" Especially apropos during these days of Occupy Wall Street. Seems like a lot of people are starting to look at the growing gap between rich and poor and saying I'd prefer not to live this way. "
" This could be my new thing: super short classics. The same sense of accomplishment for half the work. It's a win-win, really. Win-win-win, even, if the classic in question is a truly enjoyable read, as this one is. "
" Strange and uneventful, but upon further examination the story becomes interesting. I read this for my novella class at Dartmouth College. "
" Surprised by myself, I really loved this novella! Love the sybolism of Bartleby! "
" Une courte nouvelle sur un personnage énigmatique, silencieux engagé par un patron qui se laisse attendrir. Sympa. "
" Con esta novelita Melville se anticipa a los personajes que después Kafka llevaría hasta las últimas consecuencias... "
Herman Melville (1819–1891) was born in New York City. Family hardships forced him to leave school for various occupations, including shipping as a cabin boy to Liverpool in 1839—a voyage that sparked his love for the sea. A shrewd social critic and philosopher in his fiction, he is considered an outstanding writer of the sea and a great stylist who mastered both realistic narrative and a rich, rhythmical prose. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumously published novella Billy Budd.
Stefan Rudnicki first became involved with audiobooks in 1994. Now a Grammy-winning audiobook producer, he has worked on more than five thousand audiobooks as a narrator, writer, producer, or director. He has narrated more than nine hundred audiobooks. A recipient of multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards, he was presented the coveted Audie Award for solo narration in 2005, 2007, and 2014, and was named one of AudioFile’s Golden Voices in 2012.
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