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Bartleby the Scrivener

Herman Melville

Start date: March 1, 2022

Finish date: March 31, 2022

Discussion: Short Story/Novella Collection

Why we're reading this: March 2022 - Short Story/Novella Read
[close] March 2022 - Short Story/Novella Read

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Short Story/Novella Collection

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* Short Story Classics
By Bob , Short Story Classics · 1 post · 703 views

last updated Sep 01, 2015 05:35AM

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What Members Thought

Nov 09, 2021 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2021, classics

I was completely surprised by this story. It is funny, intriguing and gripping. I really wanted to know more about Bartleby. I wanted to understand this oddly provoking man. And I wanted to see where he ended up. Completely entertaining!

7 likes · Like · see review

Aug 18, 2022 Julie rated it liked it

Shelves: fin-2022, classic-novels

Funny premise. I don't think of Melville as a particularly funny writer but in this novella he shows that he can be. Everything about this, from the title to the author to the date is was written screams boring to me but it wasn't. This is why I force myself to start books, because sometimes I am rewarded with reading something worth the read. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Sep 11, 2023 RJ - Slayer of Trolls rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-short-story

This short story of a law clerk who becomes more and more withdrawn feels like if Dickens were channeling Kafka, with shades of Gogol and Kosinski. There are a lot of layers and opportunities for interpretation, none more than the possibility that Melville wrote this about the depression he was feeling as his writing career met with more and more rejection and indifference.

...more

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May 24, 2017 Felicia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017

I loved this novella. Many focus on Bartleby's character but I was so consumed with the narrator's thoughts and how unlike most, he felt responsible for Bartleby. Bartleby caused him so much confusion and trouble and yet he was human enough to still take an interest in him. This story has aged very well indeed. ...more

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May 26, 2017 Richard Subber rated it it was amazing

If you can read “Bartleby” without suspecting, nay, without more or less believing that it was written by Dickens, you can take pride in your mental discipline whilst reading. I wanted to read it again, and I confess that I briefly searched for “Bartleby” in my rumpled collection of Dickens, which of course does not include The Piazza Tales.

None of Melville's notorious South Sea elements here. This is straightforward, 19th century prose set in 19th century Wall Street with shabby, luridly eccent ...more

1 like · Like · see review