Bartleby, the Scrivener - Herman Melville
Details
"Bartleby, the Scrivener" (1853) is one of Melville's most studied and enigmatic works. It weaves dark comedy with surreal tragedy, evoking life's existential absurdity and provoking questions of what makes us human.
The narrator, an unidentified Manhattan lawyer, hires a new office assistant by the name of Bartleby. One day, Bartleby starts responding to inquiries with a stubbornly innocent "I would prefer not to." As the story progresses, Bartleby's refusal grows increasingly uncanny, correspondingly perplexing, paralyzing, and crucifying the narrator's conscience.
Nathalia Wright argues that "Bartleby, the Scrivener" is medical fiction, wherein each of the various office workers are portraits of the four humors: phlegmatic (the narrator), melancholic (Bartleby), sanguine (Turkey), and choleric (Nippers). In fact, "Everyone wants to diagnose Bartleby. Autism, catatonia, schizophrenia, depression, anorexia, agoraphobia--you name the disorder, and it has been applied to the scrivener." (Herman Melville and Neurodiversity)
But the story (strangely reminiscent, in its own way, of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven") resists simple interpretation. Its ever-crowding walls--both literal and symbolic--seem to affront the characters and readers alike with their impenetrability. Eventually, one begins to suspect fault in the narrator's pathologically oblivious (if not deceptive) point-of-view.
Note: This meetup will be recorded for private use.
Bartleby, the Scrivener:
Supplemental:
- 1948 Radio adaptation
- 2007 Radio adaptation part 1, part 2
- Subtext podcast
- The Lonely Voice podcast
- Critical Readings podcast
- Melville's Unknown Pathology thesis by Gerard Bogin
- Great Books
This meetup is part of the series Circuses and Snake Oil.