"Bartleby the Scrivener"-Herman Melville

"I would prefer not to" - Capitalism Criticizm in Herman Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener"

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"I would prefer not to" - Capitalism Criticizm in Herman Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener"

Structure

• Background information on author and time
• Summary of the story
• Different aspects of interpretation
• Conclusion

Background information on author and time

Structure of the presentation

Herman Melville

American Romanticism

Source: http://historythings.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Herman-Melville.jpg

• ~1840-1865
• Poe, Emerson, Hawthorne,Thoreau, Melville, ...
• ideals of democracy, 'American Dream'
• Economic America was wealthier than ever, the materialistic society grew
• conflict between religion and science

• born August 1st, 1819 in NY
• third son of a wealthy merchant
• went to sea from 1839-44
• published his first book Typee in 1846, other works include Omoo (1847), Moby Dick (1851) and Pierre (1852)
• died September 28th, 1891 in NY

Summary of the story's contents

Short Summary of the Story's contents

(3 parts)

Part 2 (p. 8-26)

Part 3 (p. 26-29)

Part 1 (p. 1- 8)

• "I would prefer not to.": Bartleby starts refusing to work
• the lawyer tries to understand Bartleby's motives but fails
• eventually, he stops trying and decides to just keep him, as he is a 'good christian'

• The narrator introduces himelf as 'the lawyer' and starts telling the story of "the strangest [scriverner] he ever saw"
• Introduction of the workers (Turkey, Nippers, Ginger Nut) in the office and lastly Bartleby
• Description of Bartleby's first weeks

• the narrator finally gives up on dealing with Bartleby
• Bartleby gets arrested and sent to prison, where he eventually dies
• the narrator is seen struggeling because he is feeling guilty about Bartleby's death
• 'epilogue' adressed to the reader

Part 2 (p. 8-26)

• when the lawyer finds out that Bartleby is living in the office, he starts thinking again about what might be the deal with him
• he concludes that Bartleby must be a part of a divine test
• in the end, he decides to move his office to get rid of Bartleby

Background information on...

Aspects of Interpretation

• Story as an allegory on Melville's life
• conflict between absolutism and free will/irrationality, passive resistance
• phil. concept of 'blackness'
• criticism on the economic system/business society

The author

the time

"Bartleby the Scrivener" as an allegory on Herman Melville's live

Criticism on the economic system and the business society

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Criticism on society

Allegory

"Melville creates himself a narrative position which protects him from personal violation"

• Melville was 'forced' to write a story because of his financial situation
• The act of writing is seen as work, not as a form of art
• In a capitalist society, people are reduced to their performance/output as opposed to their personality

"The presumably intellectual, promisingly original acivity of writing [...] takes the structure of mechanical reproduction ruinous to the minds of bodies and workers."

• Like the narrator, Melville himself might also be a 'psychological double' to Bartleby
• Bartleby doesn't give the lawyer access to his psychological space in the same way as Melville refused to interact with critics

Cindy Weinstein,

Melville, Labor and the Discourses of reception

different aspects for interpreting the story

(focus on two)

Criticism on society

Allegory

the story as an allorgy on Melville's own life

"All men who say yes, lie."

Criticism on the economic system/the business society

• As with Bartleby, society is not able to deal with 'outsiders'
• Comment on the problematic effects of divisions of labour as seen in Turkey and Nippers

"Bartleby declines to adopt the distorted values and dehumanizing structures of the outside world."

• Melville felt misunderstood by the people around him, similar to Bartleby
• Melville had to eventually give in to the capitalist system whereas Bartleby did not

Herman Melville,

in a letter to the author and friend Nathaniel Hawthorne

R.B. Bickley Jr.,

The Method of Melville's Short Fiction

Conclusion

The story combines general criticism of the system and Melville's personal struggles with capitalism.

"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation."

Herman Melville

Thank you for your attention!

Bibliography:

Conclusion

"Capitalism Criticism"

• Bickley Jr., R. Bruce. The Method of Melville's Short Fiction. Duke UP, 1975.
• Fellheim, Martin. "Meaning and Structure in 'Bartleby.', edited by M. Thomas Inge. Bartleby the Inscrutable: A collection of commentary on Herman Melville's Tale 'Bartleby the Scrivener.' Archon Books, 1979. pp. 114-120
• Inge, M. Thomas, editor. Bartleby the Inscrutable: A collection of commentary on Herman Melville's Tale 'Bartleby the Scrivener.' Archon Books, 1979.
• Melville, Herman. "Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story Of Wall-street." The Piazza Tales. 1856.
• Mordecai, Marcus. "Melville's Bartleby as a Psychological Double.", edited by M. Thomas Inge. Bartleby the Inscrutable: A collection of commentary on Herman Melville's Tale 'Bartleby the Scrivener.' Archon Books, 1979. pp.107-113
• Weinstein, Cindy. "Melville, Labor and the Discourses of Reception." edited by Robert S. Levine. The Cambridge Companion to Herman Melville. Cambridge UP, 1998. pp. 202-23
• Woodlief, Ann. "American Romanticism." Virginia Commonwealth University, https://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/eng372/intro.htm