A deaf stranger boards a steamboat with a mysterious trunk.

During the voyage, a series of odd characters will approach the passengers, stealing their confidences and money while defending the principles of trust and charity.

He exposes the hypocrisies of various American "types" such as the Southern gentleman, the Northern scholar, the avowed philanthropist, and the rugged adventurer.

Moreover, he manages to cast doubt on the very notion of identity itself.

From a disability perspective, this is interesting because two of the confidence man's disguises rely on disability - the deaf man and the crippled free black.

Although one might initially think that this reinforces the idea that those with disabilities fake their conditions for financial gain or privileges, it actually does more to critique the supposed virtues of American society and the way we respond to those in need.

There is even a scene where a man with a limp tells the confidence man that although he became disabled through a random accident, he pretends to be a veteran injured in war because no one will give him money just for being a random disabled person in need.

This shows how society's perception and treatment of the disabled can lead to such deceptions and highlights the need for a more genuine and empathetic approach.

Reading this was like having nasty cough syrup. It left a rather unpleasant taste in my mouth, both figuratively and perhaps even literally in a sense. The words seemed to stick to my tongue, as if they were thick and syrupy, yet not in a good way. Each sentence felt like a spoonful of that yucky cough medicine that you have to force yourself to swallow. It was not the kind of reading experience that one would look forward to or enjoy. Instead, it was a chore, something that had to be endured. The content might have had some value, but the way it was presented made it difficult to access and appreciate. It was as if the author had taken a potentially interesting topic and coated it with a layer of unappetizing syrup, making it a struggle to get through.

This was by no means an easy or captivating book.

The initial half was rather interesting, featuring some action-packed scenes that managed to hold my attention. However, as the story progressed, it took a turn for the worse and became extremely dull.

They seemed to be sitting around and discussing the same topics over and over again - trust and how to utilize it to extract money from people.

I found myself constantly struggling to reach the end. In fact, I believe I had already grasped the message conveyed in the first part.

But this is often the case with older books. The author appeared to be more concerned with expressing his own ideas and viewpoints than with providing an entertaining experience for the reader.

It's a shame really, as with a bit more effort towards engaging the audience, this could have been a much better read.

Nevertheless, I persevered and managed to finish it, but it was not without its challenges.

Perhaps this is a reminder that when reading older literature, we need to approach it with a different mindset and be prepared for a different kind of reading experience.

Vuelvo a colgar la reseña, ya que la anterior desapareció misteriosamente. Ante todo: esta traducción al español es mala de narices. Me da rabia haberlo abandonado, pero no empecé este libro con buen pie y al final se me ha acabado atragantando.

No me ha parecido una lectura fácil, sobre todo por haberme lanzado a las bravas al inglés enrevesado de Melville, expulsada por la traducción al español (ya hablaré de esto luego). Pero aparte de eso, es una de esas obras que clama por una buena edición anotada. Un prólogo que te ponga en antecedentes de qué perseguía a Herman Melville al escribirla y en qué clima social lo hizo, que avise de detalles como que hay personajes basados en Emerson o en Edgar Allan Poe, por ejemplo, o resuelva las varias referencias oscuras.

Cuando The Confidence Man se publicó en 1857, fue una obra incomprendida y recibió malas críticas. Y esta edición de Veintisiete letras no le pone mucho más fácil al lector hispanohablante actual entender la obsesión maniaca que Melville parecía tener con la confianza. En cuanto a la traducción, si me dio por cotejarla con el original, que se encuentra en varios sitios, entre ellos este, fue por una frase que me pareció expresada de una forma ambigua.

Por eso y por la descripción de un caballero que llevaba un sombrero de paja rojo, tocado con que no imaginaba yo a todo un señor sureño de finales del siglo XIX. Fue así como vi que 1)la frase ambigua en el original no lo era, y 2) el sombrero de paja rojo era en realidad a \\"ruby headed cane in his hand\\", que, creo yo, es más bien un bastón con un rubí en su empuñadura, que además lleva en la mano, claro, no en la cabeza.

Después de eso, empecé a encontrar otros resbalones semejantes: el texto en español hablaba de un orfanato fundado en la rara ciudad de Semínolas, cuando el original decía que era un orfanato creado \\"among the Seminoles\\", la tribu india, vaya. También que un mendigo al que lanzaban monedas a la boca se las tragaba y las guardaba \\"al lado del esófago\\", cosa espeluznante de imaginar aparte de anatómicamente improbable. Por fortuna, Melville propone una opción menos grimosa, \\"retaining each copper this side the oesophagus\\".

Ese mismo mendigo acababa con un buen dolor de piños porque algunas de esas monedas tenían \\"bordes como bastones\\" en la versión española, mientras que en la versión Melville no hay bastones sino botones: \\"the pennies thus thrown proved buttons\\". Y ya no quise mirar más, porque con estas cosas pasa como con el máster de Cristina Cifuentes, que cuanto más mentiras peor huele todo. Lo que sí hice fue buscar información en internet sobre el traductor, José Luis Moreno-Ruiz, y acabé por encontrar esto.

Es decir, que este hombre no es que traduzca, es que reescribe los libros. Es una lástima, porque creo que de momento es la única edición que tenemos en español de The Confidence-Man. Manda eggs que en una obra que habla de con-men el traductor sea uno de ellos.

Shame on me! Herman Melville has twice conned me with this novel.

I was eager the first time in 2013 to read Melville’s Confidence-Man. I had just read de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America and thought Melville might uncover a fundamental trait of the American psyche. But I was disappointed and confused.

Seven years later, with the initial confusion replaced by a hazy memory, I was again eager to explore the American psyche in relation to recent politics. The result was once more a baffling disappointment.

However, who doesn't love a conman? They are a great way to expose our vanity, gullibility, and greed. When combined with criminal underworld forces, it makes for a thrilling mental exercise where you're always a step or two behind. David Mamet’s House of Games and The Sting are good examples.

Another appealing literary conceit is the artist/writer as a conman, as in Thomas Mann’s Felix Krull. With this, the author suggests their works are an attempt to deceive or win the audience's confidence.

Like Huck Finn’s duke and dauphin, Melville’s many-guised conman preys on the gullible. Instead of in towns along the Mississippi, he uses the stops of the riverboat Fidele to elude his victims and change disguises. Starting as a begging black man, he rises in social status with each guise until he becomes a victim himself.

It all sounds clear, but Melville stages the action like a play, with scenes marked by passengers boarding and disembarking. The language is overblown and suits the conman's aims. There are amusing moments, but the dialogues can go on too long. The settings are hazy, highlighting the conman and victim and heightening the sense of a playwright at work.

Undoubtedly, I'll read this novel again in another seven years, my memory degraded once more. The subject of trust/confidence is at the heart of human relations, perhaps not as deeply as love. I conclude with a droll maxim Melville might have endorsed: “In God we trust; all others pay cash.”

In the middle of the 19th century, on the steamship Fidele traveling along the Mississippi River to New Orleans, an unknown man boards. He holds a placard with phrases of Christian love, faith, and brotherhood, which are in contrast to the realistic, professional, and commercial placards inside the ship ("credit is not given"), and make him the object of ridicule for the other passengers. Soon, a series of swindlers begin to appear on the ship, trying to deceive their fellow passengers to obtain, even meager, financial gain – or perhaps it is one single great swindler, a master of disguises, with the sole (self)purpose of deceitfully winning the trust of his fellow humans.

Melville was inspired by the true story of William Thompson, a swindler who was active at that time, and from whom the term "confidence man" originated, which gave the book its original title. In this, Melville focuses on the nature of deception, on the concept of identity and its fluidity, on the different personas that people construct in order to adapt to each situation and extract as much as they can from every encounter, on the social roles that they are forced or choose to assume within the money-centered, capitalist society.

On the deck of the steamship Fidele, a series of diverse figures are concentrated, forming a microcosm of society itself: victims and sacrifices, exploiters and the exploited, swindlers and the deceived, the roles are fluid and constantly changing. In this sharp socio-political satire, every narrator is unreliable, the claimants may be either sincere sufferers or shameless swindlers, those who attempt to expose them as prophets of truth or once again engage in the deception of the public.

The great swindler of the title disguises himself again and again, as a beggar, a seeker, a mourner, a merchant, a philanthropist, and tries to deceive, not so much to achieve personal gain as to succeed in persuading his fellow passengers to have confidence in him and in what he says, in a narrative – an ode to the art of persuasion. With demagogic tactics, sometimes he appears as a capable orator who convinces his listeners using philosophical dialectics and sometimes as a preacher who undertakes to proselytize the skeptical public – it is not accidental, after all, the central role that Christian/metaphysical faith plays in the narrative and in the very concept of confidence, a theme that mainly concerns Melville in his works.

Pessimist, misanthropic, and cynical in his rhetoric, Melville, through subtle satire, proclaims the end of every concept of human confidence, empathy, and fellowship, as inside the, ironically named, steamship Fidele, a gathering of opportunists and time-servers passes by. Through a skillful, complexly structured, ambiguous, and mysterious narrative – although often tiring for the modern reader – Herman Melville composes a comprehensive exploration of the concept of identity and its reinvention, an existential treatise on the inherent existence or absence of Evil in the essence of human nature, a central theme in his work, and a study on the art of deception. After all, "life is a festival of disguises; and each of us must participate, must choose a role."

Green evident book.

On board a steamboat on the Mississippi, there is a comings and goings of dubious figures: gossips, moral philosophers, beggars, swindlers, cosmopolitans, and other enlightened minds. All of them raise the same question - implicitly or explicitly: what makes people, strangers, trust or not trust each other? And how can I take advantage of it? Melville gives no answers; he just lets his creations wallow in torrents of speech that are full of empty phrases, sophistries, parables, and philosophical witticisms. Tiresome if you don't realize that it's all hot air, ironically intended, a façade with only one message: nothing is what it seems. And yet, humanity cannot do without trust. It remains relevant, I think so.

This story on the steamboat presents a vivid picture of a diverse group of people, each with their own motives and questions about trust. Melville's writing style, with its abundance of elaborate language, adds to the complexity and mystery of the narrative. While the lack of clear answers may frustrate some readers, it also forces us to思考 about the nature of trust and its importance in our lives.

Overall, the book offers a thought-provoking exploration of human nature and the role of trust in a world where appearances can be deceiving.

The Confidence-Man, which was published in 1857, is a literary work that is best suited for those with an interest in historical American literature and the pre-Civil War nineteenth-century history. Melville's writing style, which is characteristic of that era, is dense and complex. The descriptive paragraphs are filled with appositional phrases, presenting a unique and different style.

I read the book from start to finish, but in hindsight, I realize that I would have benefited more from reading it like a textbook. This would have involved making frequent references to the end-notes and spending more time delving into and understanding the language.

As the end-notes clearly demonstrate, the book is rich in allegory and references, especially those of a Biblical nature. In fact, it is the antithesis of what modern-day writers are often advised, which is to "keep the story within the four corners of the page."

So, why should one read The Confidence-Man?

The Mississippi River serves as a great backdrop for the story. Melville's riverboat anticipates Mark Twain's novels, namely Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Most intriguingly, the Missouri/Mississippi River setting and the main character also prefigure Gillian Flynn's 21st-century Gone Girl.

There are other confidence-people scattered throughout the book. With the benefit of hindsight, we know that the Civil War is on the horizon, and we find ourselves looking for clues and hints within the text. This book was written during the time when P.T. Barnum was rising to fame, and we can clearly perceive Melville's fascination with him.

The Confidence-Man was penned after the publication of the then-popular Omoo and Typee, as well as Melville's magnum opus, Moby Dick. The book reveals a considerable amount of cynicism, as scams are perpetrated by more characters than just the eponymous confidence man. Once again, the doubt and hypocrisy depicted are representative of the times. Missouri, and indeed the entire United States, would soon be embroiled in a war over the issue of slavery.

The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade is a remarkable satirical allegory penned by Herman Melville in 1857. Set on April Fool’s Day aboard a Mississippi steamboat, it features a mysterious figure constantly changing his appearance and identity, attempting to swindle various passengers. This novel delves into profound themes like human nature, deception, faith, charity, and democracy in America.

  



Compared to Melville’s earlier works such as Moby-Dick or Typee, The Confidence-Man is more experimental and ambiguous. Lacking a clear plot or a single protagonist, it presents a series of dialogues and encounters that question the reliability of language and perception. Critics have diverse interpretations, with some seeing it as a parody of transcendentalism or a critique of capitalism, while others view it as a reflection of Melville’s disillusionment and isolation. I find the latter more persuasive.

Social trust is a central theme. Melville explores how it is a complex and fragile phenomenon, with a tinge of pessimism that feels surprisingly contemporary. His sketches show how con men can easily manipulate or betray social trust by exploiting people’s desires, fears, and prejudices. Different characters on the steamboat react differently to the confidence-man’s schemes, revealing that trust is not only a matter of personal judgment but also a reflection of social and cultural norms and values.

For instance, in one chapter, the confidence-man poses as a cosmopolitan traveler. He tries to persuade a barber to lend him money by appealing to his sense of cosmopolitanism and tolerance. However, the barber resists, asserting his dignity and identity as a barber and challenging the confidence-man’s claim to cosmopolitanism. This scene illustrates how trust is based on social roles and expectations.

In another chapter, the confidence-man poses as an herb-doctor selling a miraculous medicine. He preys on a sick man named Egbert’s fear and despair, offering him false hope and flattery. Egbert falls for it and buys the medicine without questioning its ingredients or effects. This shows how trust can be influenced by emotions and authority figures.

Many chapters follow similar situational lines, with Melville conducting thought experiments to study social trust in late 19th century America. Surprisingly, this novel isn't referenced more as a historical document. Its place in literary history is contested, having been largely ignored or dismissed by contemporary reviewers. It wasn't until the 20th century that it gained recognition as a masterpiece, especially by modernist writers. However, some scholars still challenge this view, claiming it is a failure or a hoax. Regardless, The Confidence Man remains an enigmatic and controversial work of American fiction that is unjustly neglected.

My full review of at Holodoxa on Substack

I would have given a higher rank to the book if it were not much confusing.

The book had certain aspects that I really liked. The story had an interesting premise and the characters seemed to have potential. However, the way the plot was developed and presented was rather confusing. There were too many subplots and twists that made it difficult to follow the main storyline.

This confusion detracted from my overall enjoyment of the book. I found myself having to go back and reread certain passages to try and make sense of what was happening. If the author had done a better job of organizing the plot and making it more coherent, I would have been able to give the book a much higher rank.

Despite its flaws, I still think the book had some redeeming qualities. The writing style was engaging and the author had a good imagination. With a bit more polish and refinement, this could have been a really great book.

**The Art of Deception**

In early April of the 19th century, on the steamship Fidele traveling along the Mississippi River towards New Orleans, an unknown man boards. He holds a placard with phrases of Christian love, faith, and brotherhood, which contrast with the pragmatic, professional, and commercial placards inside the ship (“credit not given”), making him the object of ridicule for the other passengers.

Soon, a series of swindlers begin to appear on the ship, all seeking to deceive their fellow passengers and extract, however meager, a financial gain. Or perhaps it is all one grand swindler, a master of disguises, with the sole (self)purpose of fraudulently winning the trust of those around him?

Herman Melville's The Confidence-Man, which was published on April Fool's Day in 1857, the same day the events take place, was the last novel published during Melville's lifetime. The last one he wrote was Bill Budd, which was published posthumously. The book, which did not achieve great commercial success or a warm reception from critics when it was first published but was later recognized artistically, in the 20th century, and is now considered one of Melville's three greatest works, was published in Greek by Patakis Publications in their sub rosa series and translated by Charalambos Giannakopoulos.

For The Confidence-Man, Melville was inspired by the true story of William Thompson, a swindler who was active at that time and from whom the term “confidence man” originated, which gave the book its original title. In it, Melville focuses on the nature of deception, the concept of identity and its fluidity, the different personas that people create in order to adapt to each situation and extract as much as they can from every encounter, and the social roles that they are forced or choose to assume within a money-centered, capitalist society.

On the deck of the steamship Fidele, a series of diverse figures are gathered, forming a microcosm of society itself: victims and predators, exploiters and the exploited, swindlers and the swindled. The roles are fluid and constantly changing. In this sharp socio-political satire, every narrator is unreliable, the claimants may be either sincere sufferers or shameless swindlers, and those who attempt to expose them are either prophets of truth or again engaging in the deception of the public.

The eponymous great swindler changes his guise again and again, into a cripple, a beggar, a mourner, a merchant, a philanthropist, and attempts to deceive, not so much to seek personal gain but to convince his fellow passengers to have confidence in him and his words, in a narrative that is a celebration of the art of persuasion. Using demagogic tactics, he sometimes appears as a capable orator who convinces his listeners using philosophical dialectics and sometimes as a preacher who undertakes to proselytize the skeptical public. It is no coincidence, after all, that the central role that Christian/metaphysical faith plays in the narrative and in the very concept of confidence is a theme that mainly concerns Melville in his works.

Philosophical battles, with influences from Aristotle and Plato to Milton and Shakespeare, theological rhetorical disputes, and political wranglings among the passengers of the ship and the multiple personas that the hero adopts form a vivid tapestry of pre-Civil War America. The novel is filled with embedded stories, narrative digressions, and long philosophical dialogues, which, however, become monotonous and tiresome for the reader, while the central motif of the story, that of deception, ends up being overused.

Melville comments on the ways in which religious faith, humanism, and philanthropy are intertwined with economic corruption and opportunism, a practice that is also prevalent among contemporary capitalists. A prophetic and disturbingly relevant novel, which, according to Philip Roth, predicted and attempted to explain the election of politicians such as Donald Trump, charlatans and demagogues who deceived their public without having any credential of authenticity, any clear proof of the feasibility of their promises, but only an inflammatory ability to persuade. The modern-day Confidence-Man could be a politician, an engineer, or a businessman, an investor or a financial advisor. The practices may change, but the archetype remains unchanged and eternal.

Pessimistic, misanthropic, and cynical in his rhetoric, Melville, through subtle satire, proclaims the end of every notion of human confidence, solidarity, and companionship, as within the, ironically named, steamship Fidele passes a gathering of opportunists and time-servers. Through a sophisticated, complexly structured, ambiguous, and mysterious narrative – albeit often tiresome for the modern reader – Herman Melville composes a comprehensive exploration of the concept of identity and its reinvention, an existential treatise on the inherent presence or absence of Evil in the essence of human nature, a central theme in his work, and a study on the art of deception. After all, “life is a festival of disguises; and each of us must participate, must choose a role.”

I was quite engaged when I started reading this book. However, as I got further along, it became stranger and stranger. In fact, when there were still 45 pages left, I decided to quit. I'm a big fan of Melville, but this particular work should be the prime example for book banning rather than "Heather Has Two Mommies".

The story took some very unexpected turns that made it difficult for me to follow and understand. It seemed to lack a clear direction and purpose.

I found myself constantly confused and frustrated with the plot and the characters.

Maybe it was just not the right book for me, but I really don't think it should be recommended or widely read.

I would rather focus on other works that are more engaging, meaningful, and well-written.

Overall, my experience with this book was quite disappointing.