Автор - Herman Melville

Bartleby, The Scrivener A Story of Wall-Street

Bartleby the Scrivener (1853), by Herman Melville, tells the story of a quiet, hardworking legal copyist who works in an office in the Wall Street area of New York City. One day Bartleby declines the assignment his employer gives him with the inscrutable "I would prefer not." The utterance of this remark sets off a confounding set of actions and behavior, making the unsettling character of Bartleby one of Melville's most enigmatic and unforgettable creations.  Herman Melville towers among American writers not only for his powerful novels, but also for the stirring novellas and short stories that flowed from his pen. Two of the most admired of these - `Bartleby` and `Benito Cereno` - first appeared as magazine pieces and were then published in 1856 as part of a collection of short stories entitled `The Piazza Tales`. `Bartleby` (also known as `Bartleby the Scrivener`) is an intriguing moral allegory set in the business world of mid-19th-century New York. A strange, enigmatic man employed as a clerk in a legal office, Bartleby forces his employer to come to grips with the most basic questions of human responsibility, and haunts the latter`s conscience, even after Bartleby`s dismissal. `Benito Cereno`, considered one of Melville`s best short stories, deals with a bloody slave revolt on a Spanish vessel. A splendid parable of man`s struggle against the forces of evil, the carefully developed and mysteriously guarded plot builds to a dramatic climax while revealing the horror and depravity of which man is capable. Reprinted here from standard texts in a finely made, yet inexpensive new edition, these stories offer the general reader and students of Melville and American literature sterling examples of a literary giant at his story-telling best.

Billy Budd

When Billy, a handsome, unpretentious, stuttering young able-seaman, is falsely accused of inciting mutiny, he lashes out, kills his accuser and is condemned to die. Written in allusive and beautiful prose, many-layered, resonant with ideas and meanings, Billy Budd has inspired drama, films and opera and continues to elude interpretation. The main theme of the novel, however, is generally considered to be the vulnerability of innocence in a fallen world. Billy, a victim of one man's unnatural hatred, is the embodiment of goodness destroyed by evil, but as "the criminal pays the penalty of his crime", a greater justice comes into play. The original source for this text has not been identified. The text has been checked for italics against Harrison Hayford and Merton M. Sealts, Jr., eds, Billy Budd: Sailor (An Inside Narrative) (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962). Published: 1924

I and my chimney

Moby Dick

Ismaël, attiré par la mer et le large, décide de partir à la chasse à la baleine. Il embarque sur le Pequod, baleinier d'un capitaine nommé Achab, amputé d'une jambe, qui emmènera Ismaël autour du monde à la poursuite du cachalot blanc…Faut-il présenter ce livre mythique, magnifique aventure, suspense prenant qui nous amène peu à peu à l'apocalypse finale, parabole chargée de thèmes universels et nouvelle Bible aux accents prophétiques.

Mardi and a Voyage Thither

An ambitious and far reaching allegorical voyage which, though not exactly a success, was Melville's first attempt at a book on the scale of Moby-Dick. Here is a passage which is reflective of the style, and outlook, of Mardi: So, if after all these fearful, fainting traces, the verdict be, the golden haven was not gained;-yet in bold quest thereof, better to sink in boundless deeps, than float on vulgar shoals: and give me, ye gods, an utter wreck, if wreck I do.-Herman Melville

Israel Potter. Fifty Years of Exile

This facsimile of Melville's historical novel appears in a paperback classroom edition, with a commentary by Hennig Cohen. "Israel Potter" is the story of a neglected hero of the American Revolution.

Omoo: Adventures in the South Seas

A sailor escapes from his ship while visiting the Marquesas Islands and joins the crew of a savage boat.

Pierre, Or the Ambiguities

A reconstruction of Melville's original text omits the "Pierre as author" subplot that was later assimilated and is accompanied by thirty full-color pictures by Maurice Sendak.

Redburn. His First Voyage

Redburn charts the coming-of-age of Wellingborough Redburn, a young innocent who embarks on a crossing to Liverpool together with a roguish crew. Once in Liverpool, Redburn encounters the squalid conditions of the city and meets Harry Bolton, a bereft and damaged soul, who takes him on a tour of London that includes a scene of rococo decadence unlike anything else in Melville's fiction.

White Jacket or, The World on a Man-of-War

A nineteenth-century appeal to maintain a decent standard of food for sailors, to care for the sick, and to prevent the frequency of flogging in the United States Navy.