The most difficult read I've ever had was Moby Dick.

Melville satirizes 19th-century American society and philosophizes on various themes, filling the book with numerous biblical and mythological references.

He deliberately made his characters inconsistent to baffle the reader.

Even so, Moby Dick is among my all-time favorites. However, the Con-Man in the story is far too fastidious to be simply enjoyable.

Nevertheless, it can be a great book for studying literature if one is courageous enough to spend hours decoding its rich imagery and double-meanings.

No matter how wise our renowned Melville was, that journey on the Mississippi river left me completely confused.

I rate it 2.5 stars, but let's say 3 stars (for the brilliant metafictional chapters).

Overall, Moby Dick is a complex and challenging work that requires careful study and reflection to fully appreciate.

Willfully confusing and deeply compelling. This description seems to fit many aspects of our lives.

We often encounter situations that are deliberately made to be confusing, whether it's in complex legal documents, convoluted political speeches, or even in the latest technological gadgets.

These confusing elements can have a powerful impact on us, drawing us in and making us want to understand more. It's as if we are being challenged to untangle the mystery and make sense of the chaos.

At the same time, the deep compulsion to figure things out can also lead us astray. We may become so focused on solving the confusion that we overlook other important aspects of the situation.

However, it's important to remember that confusion can also be a source of creativity and innovation. When we are forced to think outside the box and come up with new solutions, we can often achieve great things.

In conclusion, while willfully confusing situations can be frustrating and overwhelming, they can also be deeply compelling and lead to positive outcomes. It's up to us to approach them with an open mind and a willingness to learn.

Well, this month's attempts to read realist fiction haven't been very successful so far. I've zero for two, but I'm still taking in some interesting texts. After the unexpected magical elements in Tim Winton's Cloudstreet, I thought I might try some Melville. Nineteenth-century American maritime novels seemed straightforward enough. But I didn't realize that The Confidence Man, which was on my to-read shelf, is late Melville. Published in 1857, it's sometimes considered his last "major" work. And as anyone who has read Bartleby the Scrivener or Moby-Dick can attest, Melville got more experimental and allegorical as his career progressed. The Confidence Man takes this tendency to its logical conclusion. Set on a Mississippi steamboat on April Fool's Day, it's an extended allegory that questions our decisions about who and what we trust. There's almost no plot; the narrative is mostly made up of dialogues between two or three passengers, one of whom is trying to gain the confidence of the others.
The novel opens on the morning of April 1, and one of the first scenes shows a crippled black man begging for change. A white man with a wooden leg accuses him of being a fraud. When a clergyman asks if anyone can vouch for the beggar, he names several men on board. The reader meets each of these men in turn, and they all interact with the other passengers and try to gain their confidence for various reasons. Some push their wares, while others are sought out by the passengers. The relationships between the characters are interlinked, forming a chain along which the narrative progresses.
There's one big "spoiler" in The Confidence Man, but I won't give it away here. However, it's the main point of the book. The interesting thing about reading this novel is that even though the reader knows a con-job is going on, she still questions her own assumptions about confidence in humanity. At first, I sympathized with the beggar, but as the story went on, my sympathy shifted. One realizes that a militant insistence on confidence can allow the darker impulses of human nature to thrive. The chapters on "Indian-hating" are very racist by modern standards, and I'm not sure what Melville's intentions were. Overall, The Confidence Man is an unusual and thought-provoking read, but not the sea-going adventure I was expecting. I'm not sure I would recommend it generally, but it's worthwhile for those who like "novels of ideas."

Short review: Complicated, dense, angry, and funny too (though in that depressing kind of way).

Longer, more rambling comments and some quotes:

If one attempts to define a "masterpiece," surely one criterion must be almost permanent relevance. That is, what is said about our species remains as true now as when the author began writing.

This wonderful book, as a quick Google search reveals, is not the first to be thought of in this way. It speaks directly and clearly of our current Trumpian, Islamophobic age, of our conned and conning selves.

"Ah, sir, they may talk of the courage of truth, but my trade teaches me that truth sometimes is sheepish. Lies, lies, sir, brave lies are the lions!" This sums up current U.S. politics.

"Oftener it falls, that this winged man, who will carry me into the heaven, whirls me into the clouds, then leaps and frisks about with me from cloud to cloud, still affirming that he is bound heavenward and I, being myself a novice, am slow in perceiving that he does not know the way into the heavens, and is merely bent that I should admire his skill to rise..." This is an almost perfect description of Trump.

The extraordinary section on Indian-hating (where one can easily substitute "Muslim" for "Indian") shows the many layers in the book.

And for those who prefer a bit of meta in their novels: "If reason be judge, no writer has produced such inconsistent characters as nature herself has."

This is a difficult book. The sentence structure is complex, and the critique is more complex and subtle than it seems. One must read carefully to avoid being misled. The section on Indian-hating can be misread, but any reader of Melville should understand his stance on race-hatred.

I'm too lazy to write more at present, but suffice it to say that anyone curious about whether Melville has another masterpiece should give this a try.

Are human beings saints, knaves, or fools? This is the question that Melville delves into throughout his satirical and perplexing last novel, The Confidence-Man.

He arranges his characters, who are as colorful, flat, and clearly defined as playing cards, and pits them against each other as they journey down the Mississippi River. Some engage in philosophical casuistry, while others rely on homespun anecdotes, all in an attempt (and often with success) to convince their neighbors to give them 'confidence.' There is no pretense of realism whatsoever, and perhaps the entire book and all of its components could have been enhanced in various ways. It is a manifestation of stubborn, idiosyncratic authorial individualism, which, like that of American cultural and political individualism more broadly, was approaching its decline in the late 1850s.

If Melville's own emotions can be detected at all, it is through the formal structure of the novel, which never permits the reader to relax for even a moment with certainty regarding the setting, character, tone, or frame of reference. (This strongly aligns with Melville's struggles between religious faith and doubt.) The Confidence-Man, in both form and content, continuously overturns, and the riverboat, oblivious and unconcerned, continues to float: Melville appears to be asserting that human nature is folly and vanity, firmly situating this complex final novel within the early tradition of literary modernism.

It is rather challenging to label any of Melville's works as a successful novel, but this one I would probably rank just after Moby-Dick and White-Jacket.

Another book that I delved into following Trump's election in 2016 was a rather unique one.

Although it was published way back in 1857, it has the characteristics of a post-modern novel. The story, such as it is, commences with a steamboat departing from a Mississippi River dock in St. Louis in the morning.

And by nightfall, it concludes downriver. Aboard the vessel is a huckster, a charlatan who takes on numerous guises.

This is a difficult novel to get through. Other than his conversations with the other passengers, not much occurs. I had to resort to using index cards to keep a tab on all the characters and figure out the diverse appearances of the confidence man.

Moreover, I had a dictionary at the ready to look up 19th Century words that have long since fallen out of use.

However, once I got settled into it, I found myself quite enjoying it. Melville's confidence man is able to plausibly draw people in without making them seem like suckers. It requires a great deal of effort, but I'm glad I read it.

Admittedly, though, it's not a book for everyone. It would have been quite fun to read and discuss in a book club.

Melville’s final work, The Confidence Man, is perhaps his overlooked masterpiece.

I read Moby Dick many years ago and thought it was okay. It’s a very ‘gothic’ novel. I’m half way through Typee, his first novel, so I can’t speak for his other novels. Some of them, like White-Jacket, are highly spoken of. But this is one serious book with important underlying messages for humankind.

As other reviewers have noted, there’s no clear linear narrative here. The reason becomes obvious. The plot is secondary, serving as a backdrop for Melville’s extensive moral essay on man. The moral message condemns the Confidence Man in all his guises. This is the main crux around which the book pivots with elegance and beauty.

First, about the language and style. I’m in two minds about mid-nineteenth century English. Sometimes it’s beautiful and elegant, but other times it hasn’t aged well for modern readers, especially the double negatives. I guess each literary period has its style, and Melville has carved out his own in American literary history.

In brief, the story takes place on a riverboat going down the Mississippi River. It’s the first of Melville’s books not set on the ocean. The author is the narrator and fills in details when there’s no dialogue.

The basic messages are about trust or lack of it in the world and why it’s hard to have confidence in others because of the stakes, which is the risk of being conned. Throughout the story, people get conned or sense the trap and avoid it. Little has changed since the 1850s. There are still many conmen in different forms today.

The protagonist, the Confidence Man, doesn’t have a single name. Melville sketches a conman who’s more like a shape-shifter. We only get a vague outline of who he is. This is done brilliantly as he symbolizes the generic conman in society, not a particular one.

There’s been academic discussion on who these conmen referred to in real life. I recommend the Penguin Version with its informative endnotes. It’s one of the few books I’d read again and would be great for an English class.

The Confidence Man wasn’t taken seriously in Melville’s time. It wasn’t until the Melville ‘revival’ in the 20th century that people realized his importance as a writer.

I believe this book will be considered more ‘timeless’ than Moby Dick. The conman will always be a scourge, so the theme is always relevant. Kerouac thought this was Melville’s best book, and I agree. There are many themes and motifs. The lack of confidence includes a lack of faith in God. I felt Melville might have been having an internal battle.

Some say this is one of the first ‘postmodern’ books as the themes and motifs are more important than the narrative. I highly recommend it. It makes you think about the deceptiveness of appearances and modern society. The mid-19th century style may make you pause, but it’s a serious work by a serious writer that warrants close attention. There are also quotes and references to Shakespeare for fans to enjoy.

The steamship Fintel starts on a April Fool's Day to cross the Mississippi. The passengers on board belong to all social and economic classes.

Among them, there are also some whose purpose is deception... Or perhaps it is just one shrewd person who adopts different identities and personalities in order to achieve his goal?

Is it possible for a beggar, a botanist, and a cosmopolitan entrepreneur to be the same person?

Most of the conversations between the protagonist and his interlocutors have to do with trust, deception, and the desire to be believed.

Using skillfully examples from world works, he manages to achieve his goal. To make them trust him.

In this last novel of his, Melville uses various techniques. There were moments when I thought I was watching a play and others when his prose was so powerful that all I could do was reread the passage.

I initially had the impression that it would be difficult for me. On the contrary...

I really liked the philosophical analysis he made regarding trust in general.

Finally, I think the ending of the book is clever. That's all I'll say.

So how easily can one be influenced by the correct use of words and arguments so as to completely change one's mind?

This is like the classic "a man and a woman walk into a bar" joke, but with a unique twist. Instead of a bar, we have a boat on the mighty Mississippi River. And the list of characters on this boat is longer than the boat itself!

Imagine a diverse group of people boarding this vessel. There's the captain, a grizzled veteran with years of experience navigating the river's currents. Then there's the young and enthusiastic deckhand, eager to learn the ropes. A family of tourists is also on board, excited to experience the beauty of the Mississippi. There's a musician playing soulful tunes, adding a touch of magic to the atmosphere. And let's not forget the mysterious stranger, who seems to have a story to tell.

As the boat sails along, the characters interact, creating a web of relationships and adventures. They share laughter, secrets, and maybe even a few tears. The Mississippi River serves as the backdrop to this unfolding drama, its waters flowing majestically beneath the boat. It's a scene that's both humorous and heartwarming, a reminder that life is full of unexpected encounters and unforgettable moments.

This is Melville's most modern, even post-modern, work of fiction. It is an amazing tale that I read for our Lincoln Park Thursday Night book group.

The title refers to its central character, an ambiguous figure who sneaks aboard a Mississippi steamboat on April Fool's Day. This stranger attempts to test the confidence of the passengers, whose varied reactions constitute the bulk of the text. Each person, including the reader, is forced to confront that in which he places his trust.

The Confidence-Man uses the Mississippi River as a metaphor for those broader aspects of American and human identity that unify the otherwise disparate characters. Melville also employs the river's fluidity as a reflection and backdrop of the shifting identities of his "confidence man."

The novel is written as cultural satire, allegory, and metaphysical treatise, dealing with themes of sincerity, identity, morality, religiosity, economic materialism, irony, and cynicism. Many critics have placed The Confidence-Man alongside Melville's Moby-Dick and "Bartleby the Scrivener" as a precursor to 20th-century literary preoccupations with nihilism, existentialism, and absurdism.

Melville's choice to set the novel on April Fool's Day underlines the work's satirical nature and potentially reflects Melville's worldview, once expressed in a letter to his friend Samuel Savage: "It is—or seems to be—a wise sort of thing, to realise that all that happens to a man in this life is only by way of joke, especially his misfortunes, if he have them. And it is also worth bearing in mind, that the joke is passed round pretty liberally & impartially, so that not very many are entitled to fancy that they in particular are getting the worst of it."

The work includes several satires of 19th century literary figures: Mark Winsome is based on Ralph Waldo Emerson while his "practical disciple" Egbert is Henry David Thoreau; Charlie Noble is based on Nathaniel Hawthorne; Edgar Allan Poe inspired a beggar in the story.

A steamboat gracefully makes its way down the mighty Mississippi River.

On board, a motley crew of diverse passengers can be found. Among them is a mysterious trickster who seems to materialize and vanish in a multitude of guises.

This enigmatic figure engages people in lively conversations, testing the limits of their professed trust in their fellow humans.

The trickster offers stock certificates, elixirs, and even blatantly asks for donations. On the other hand, he also engages in debates with some "marks" to plant seeds of doubt in their positions of suspicion or distrust.

In every interaction, he skillfully promotes confidence while secretly preparing to betray it. These encounters often have a comical resemblance to Platonic dialogues, with the trickster taking on the role of Socrates (or perhaps more like Demonic dialogues with Mephistopheles).

Occasionally, things don't go according to plan, and the trickster is met with rejection or, in one instance, even a punch.

The story is set on April 1st, leaving the reader to wonder if they are being tricked in some way.

Originally, the reception of this novel was rather tepid. However, today, literary critics have revised their opinions upwards and offer a plethora of diverse and sometimes contradictory interpretations.

The book continues to be both fascinating and perplexing, leaving readers to draw their own conclusions and see what they can make of it.

I have permitted myself to go with the flow, journeying from St. Louis down the Mississippi River towards New Orleans. "The Confidence-Men" (should be in the plural form) was Melville's final novel, published on April 1st, 1857, which is seemingly the date when the riverboat commences its voyage.

Not long after departing from the Missouri shore, I started to have misgivings about my ability to complete the voyage. Any reader can have little doubt that Melville was a proficient and articulate writer. Regrettably, I was steaming through rough waters. There was too little vivid characterization and far too much pompous dialogue that filled the decks. I perceived that most of the passengers on board the "Fidele" were traveling to a "Pretentious Twats Convention" in Louisiana.

Having never read any Melville before this, I was anticipating something similar to Mark Twain, who had previously taken me down this same river. In this novel, it is written, "Though her voyage of twelve hundred miles extends from apple to orange, from clime to clime, yet, like any small ferry-boat, to right and left, at every landing, the huge Fidele still receives additional passengers in exchange for those that disembark; so that, though always full of strangers, she continually, in some degree, adds to, or replaces them with strangers still more strange."

We are on a floating masquerade of Canterbury pilgrims with Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts. There is Black Guinea, the man with the weed, a gentleman with gold sleeve-buttons, a herb doctor, and the cosmopolitan, engaged in a mix of moralistic, yet also mordacious conversation.

By the time we arrived at Cairo, I was longing to disembark. You know how it is. We've all been in that situation, stuck in a train carriage with a mobile phone user or sitting at the next table to two loud intellectuals. However, I did sail on to the end, and you do learn something new every day. Did you know that Kentucky is an Indian word for bloody ground?