BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER: A Story of Wall Street (ISBN 0684819104)

Square peg in a round hole:
A scrivener, Bartleby, is trapped in the soul-killing monotony of his job, a job that leads a co-worker to get soused every day at lunch. After a while, Bartleby starts refusing his assigned work, but in turning away from his tasks he doesn't turn to doing anything else. His rebellion is passive - staring at the brick walls that enclose him and the others on Wall Street, he becomes a standing rebuke of superficial `busy-ness', a rebuke from which his employer eventually flees. I appreciated this story more after reading Mordecai Marcus' interpretation of it (`Melville's Bartleby as a Psychological Double', College English 23 (1962): 365-8). Marcus sees Bartleby as his employer's `double'. That is, this recalcitrant worker is a part of the lawyer's own psyche, one that suffers neglect in the urban office. Something essential to its sustenance is missing. Obdurate in the face of all monetary enticements, this spectral other can't fit its assigned place in the urban business hub. It belongs to nature, the lawyer's own nature, and is marooned in 'unnature' (Wall Street). Naturally, it withers in this world of material plenty.

I would prefer not to:
The strange behaviour of the main character 'Bartleby' in this short story can be described as 'perfectly harmless passivity': 'I would prefer not to.' The reason for this behaviour lays in the fact that Bartleby was suddenly removed out of the 'Dead Letter' office in Washington after a reorganization. 'Dead letters! does that not sound like dead men? ... Sometimes from out the folded paper the pale clerk takes a ring ... a banknote ... he whom it would relieve nor eats nor hungers anymore ... on errands of life, these letters speed to death.' Bartleby had hope. He had a job, albeit a rather 'catastrophic' one. But, he himself became the victim of a catastrophe: he lost his job, his hope. He became a stoic. Bartleby is the personification of humanity's lost hopes: 'Ah , Bartleby! Ah, humanity!' This is a profoundly modern and magisterial tale.

A haunting short story:
"I would prefer not to." This insolent, yet passive, statement is the start of the narrator's persistent problem. The narrator is a lawyer on Wall Street. A safe and unambitious man, he chose to shun the limelight of public trials and specialize in bonds, mortgages and deeds. At his service are three scriveners (scriveners are copiers who replicate legal documents as well as run small errands). These three have their own idiosyncrasies: Turkey is surly in the afternoon, while Nippers is cranky in the morning, and Ginger Nut works to supply the both of them with, well, ginger nuts. Things run smoothly enough until the lawyer decides he needs more help. He hires Bartleby. Disturbingly quiet, Bartleby dutifully copies and performs this task exceptionally. But the lawyer soon discovers any other command (such as reading copy and going to the post office) is met with a "I would prefer not to." Anyone else would have been fired -- especially when Bartleby begins to refuse even to copy. But the lawyer, at first too flabbergasted by his refusal, slowly becomes convinced it's his duty to help this man. But will Bartleby accept his help? He'd prefer not to. This short story by Herman Melville is centered on symbolism. Is it a story about rebellion against menial white-collar tasks? About despair at the emptiness of life? I confess I'm one of those boorish people who prefer plot and characters to language and symbolism. But I can appreciate the haunting, unfinished quality of this story. Still, I would recommend Bartleby the Scrivener only to those who like reading between the lines of text.

It's not the book, it's the shipping:
The book was required reading for my daughter. When none of our local bookstores had this book and ordering would take seven days or more, I turned to Amazon knowing that I could ship the book overnight if it was in stock. That is what I did. I went to Amazon, the book was in stock and paid twice what the book was worth for OVERNIGHT SHIPPING. How long did it take me to get the book? SEVEN DAYS!!! I paid for overnight shipping and it still took SEVEN DAYS to get this book. I will think twice before getting ripped off by AMAZON again!! BEWARE OF OVERNIGHT SHIPPING ON AMAZON!

Bartleby:
In my opinion, Bartleby gets a bit boring sometimes, but maybe that's because I was sleepy when I read it. In general, the storyline is somewhat unique. Turkey and Nippers are copyists or scriveners while Ginger Nut, a boy of twelve, does odd jobs. The narrator notes these eccentricities, but excuses them. The narrator, torn between pity and exasperation, also discovers that Bartleby apparently has no home or friends, and lives in the office. Bartleby, however, only repeats his mantra, and the narrator eventually fires him. Bartleby, however, continues to haunt the premises, causing the lawyer considerable embarrassment. I would give Bartleby three out of five stars, because I really didn't think it was that amazing, because I got lost in it.