Reviews

Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville

fablec's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

ostrava's review against another edition

5.0

Back when I read about the short story, I had always assumed Bartelby served as an allegory for class struggle, social alienation or even an early portrayal of mental illness. So my impression of the character was that he was rebelling against injustice, or reacting to it.

Now though? I kept wondering if the character was going to be revealed as an angel by the end, only for it to be proofed, he had been a mortal man all along. This is how you write a long-lasting masterpiece. Similar to how people haven't figured out Hamlet, or the enigmatic smile of the Mona Lisa, so is Bartelby an ever-lasting mystery for the history of literature. This is a kafkian tale of sorrow, but of a different kind. Both this and the Hunger Artist end with a character dying by starvation, but Bartelby doesn't seem affected by human struggles. He's been hit with messianic enlightenment, but he's no Buddha. Just enough for the reader to believe that he has discovered an angle on mankind yet unseen by most, and decided to die with the secret. I emphasize the idea of "deciding" because I refuse to believe anything that happens to Bartelby in the story isn't part of his own desire in some way. He died because he decided it was time for him to die, for whatever reasons.

I'll definitely be coming back to Melville, an author I admittedly haven't explored much. But I want to avoid distractions, especially fiction books, for the next couple of months and focus on my studies instead. If I do read, it will probably only be the rest of the Piazza Tales, which I'm sure I will enjoy.

thereaderintherye's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

swineberg's review

5.0

At this time, I would prefer not to leave a review.

elliotseyes's review

funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The first quarter of the novella goes into exposition about his other employees who essentially have like, 5 speaking lines for the rest of the text (ah, late 19th century my beloved). But besides that, a pretty compelling and at times funny little story. An intriguing ending that I don't believe I've fully figured out. One of the texts that got me into late 19C/Gothic lit.

mctryler's review

5.0

"Going up stairs to my old haunt, there was Bartleby silently sitting upon the banister at the landing.
'What are you doing here, Bartleby?' said I.
'Sitting upon the banister,' he mildly replied."

Melville is indisputably the best American author.

gamerboy09pc's review

5.0

I would prefer not to.

Spoiler

Favorite Quotes

I remembered the bright silks and sparkling faces I had seen that day, in gala trim, swan-like sailing down the Mississippi of Broadway; and I contrasted them with the pallid copyist, and thought to myself, Ah, happiness courts the light, so we deem the world is gay; but misery hides
aloof, so we deem that misery there is none.

My first emotions had been those of pure melancholy and sincerest pity; but just in proportion as the forlornness of Bartleby grew and grew to my imagination, did that same melancholy merge into fear, that pity into repulsion. So true it is, and so terrible too, that up to a certain point the thought or sight of misery enlists our best affections; but, in certain special cases, beyond that point it does not. They err who would assert that invariably this is owing to the inherent selfishness of the human heart. It rather proceeds from a certain hopelessness of remedying excessive and organic ill. To a sensitive being, pity is not seldom pain. And when at last it is perceived that such pity cannot lead to effectual succor, common sense bids the soul rid of it. What I saw that morning persuaded me that the scrivener was the victim of innate and incurable disorder. I might give alms to his body; but his body did not pain him; it was his soul that suffered, and his soul I could not reach.

old_ellar's review

challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

eyebrightt_'s review

5.0

resonated w/ me as a depiction of severe depression. i know there's stuff with bartleby being a reflection of the narrator but idk. left me feeling very sad and hit very close to home

astrono9's review

dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0