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

Read now or download (free!)

Choose how to read this book Url Size
Read online (web) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11231.html.images 111 kB
EPUB3 (E-readers incl. Send-to-Kindle) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11231.epub3.images 119 kB
EPUB (older E-readers) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11231.epub.images 118 kB
EPUB (no images, older E-readers) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11231.epub.noimages 106 kB
Kindle https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11231.kf8.images 244 kB
older Kindles https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11231.kindle.images 237 kB
Plain Text UTF-8 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11231.txt.utf-8 102 kB
Download HTML (zip) https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11231/pg11231-h.zip 117 kB
There may be more files related to this item.

About this eBook

Author Melville, Herman, 1819-1891
Title Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street
Credits Steve J. Nelson and Clara T. Nelson
Summary "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street" by Herman Melville is a short story written in the late 19th century, during the period known as the American Renaissance. The tale presents a legal scrivener who exhibits an unusual form of passive resistance, famously responding to requests with the phrase "I would prefer not to." The story explores themes of isolation, the human condition, and the conflicts between individual will and societal expectations. The narrative is told from the perspective of a nameless lawyer, who describes his interactions with Bartleby, a new scrivener who initially demonstrates exceptional diligence but gradually declines to perform any tasks. As the lawyer confronts Bartleby's growing refusal to comply with standard office duties, he grapples with feelings of frustration, pity, and confusion. Bartleby's presence becomes increasingly unsettling, revealing his profound detachment from the world around him. The story culminates with Bartleby's ultimate fate in a prison setting, alluding to deeper existential questions about humanity, purpose, and the impact of societal neglect. Through the surreal interactions between the lawyer and Bartleby, Melville crafts a poignant commentary on the condition of modern life and the plight of the individual within a callous society. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Language English
LoC Class PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature
Subject New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction
Subject Psychological fiction
Subject Young men -- Fiction
Subject Wall Street (New York, N.Y.) -- Fiction
Subject Copyists -- Fiction
Category Text
EBook-No. 11231
Release Date
Most Recently Updated Jun 25, 2024
Copyright Status Public domain in the USA.
Downloads 4038 downloads in the last 30 days.
Project Gutenberg eBooks are always free!