Bartleby the Scrivener, by Call me Ishmael, erm, Herman Melville. Moby Dick was probably the first school-assigned reading I DNFd. I took the lower grade rather than finish that book. So, when ol' Bartleby showed up on a syllabus there was a lot of gnashing of the teeth. I prepared my tirade on the many flaws of Herman Melville and his writing (having only partially read of Captain's Ahab's hubris), but when I saw it was a short story I simmered down and opened the anthology of western dead white guys' vaunted short works.
Friends, I loved that story. Bartleby broke my heart and the narrator made me so damn angry I fumed for days. Any story that can evoke a lasting emotional reaction, well, I had to revise my opinion on Melville.
Hmm. Now I'm feeling like I should read this...
ReplyDeleteThe next time you're waiting on a coffee or an oil change: https://www.bartleby.com/129/
DeleteI haven't read this one! I slogged through Moby Dick and wrote Melville off because of it. Thanks for giving me a reason to look him up again. :)
ReplyDeleteYou are a better woman than I for making it through that dreck. Bartleby makes want to write his backstory or retell it through another POV; he's the kind of character that just sits with you, waiting.
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