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He de decir que me encantó esta triste pero divertida historia. Podría escribir más que esto pero "Preferiría no hacerlo".
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Melville's Short Novels
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Collected in this volume are Bartleby the Scrivener, Benito Cereno, and Billy Budd—presented in the best texts available, those published during Melville's lifetime and corrected by the author.
Each text has been carefully edited and annotated for student readers.
As his writing reflects, Melville was extraordinarily well read. "Contexts" collects important sources for each novel, including writings by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Amasa Delano, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
"Criticism" includes twenty-eight essays about the novels sure to promote classroom discussion. Contributors include Leo Marx, Elizabeth Hardwick, Frederick Busch, Robert Lowell, Herschel Parker, Carolyn L. Karcher, Thomas Mann, and Hannah Arendt.
A Selected Bibliography is included.
--wwnorton.co.uk
Each text has been carefully edited and annotated for student readers.
As his writing reflects, Melville was extraordinarily well read. "Contexts" collects important sources for each novel, including writings by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Amasa Delano, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
"Criticism" includes twenty-eight essays about the novels sure to promote classroom discussion. Contributors include Leo Marx, Elizabeth Hardwick, Frederick Busch, Robert Lowell, Herschel Parker, Carolyn L. Karcher, Thomas Mann, and Hannah Arendt.
A Selected Bibliography is included.
--wwnorton.co.uk
432 pages, Paperback
First published January 1,1855
This edition
- Format
-
432 pages, Paperback
- Published
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January 1, 2002 by W. W. Norton \u0026 Company
- ISBN
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9780393976410
- ASIN
-
0393976416
- Language
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English
About the author
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There is more than one author with this name
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was no longer well known to the public, but the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival. Moby-Dick eventually would be considered one of the great American novels.
Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in dire financial straits. He took to sea in 1839 as a common sailor on a merchant ship and then on the whaler Acushnet, but he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands. Typee, his first book, and its sequel, Omoo (1847), were travel-adventures based on his encounters with the peoples of the islands. Their success gave him the financial security to marry Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of the Boston jurist Lemuel Shaw. Mardi (1849), a romance-adventure and his first book not based on his own experience, was not well received. Redburn (1849) and White-Jacket (1850), both tales based on his experience as a well-born young man at sea, were given respectable reviews, but did not sell well enough to support his expanding family.
Melville's growing literary ambition showed in Moby-Dick (1851), which took nearly a year and a half to write, but it did not find an audience, and critics scorned his psychological novel Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (1852). From 1853 to 1856, Melville published short fiction in magazines, including "Benito Cereno" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener". In 1857, he traveled to England, toured the Near East, and published his last work of prose, The Confidence-Man (1857). He moved to New York in 1863, eventually taking a position as a United States customs inspector.
From that point, Melville focused his creative powers on poetry. Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) was his poetic reflection on the moral questions of the American Civil War. In 1867, his eldest child Malcolm died at home from a self-inflicted gunshot. Melville's metaphysical epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land was published in 1876. In 1886, his other son Stanwix died of apparent tuberculosis, and Melville retired. During his last years, he privately published two volumes of poetry, and left one volume unpublished. The novella Billy Budd was left unfinished at his death, but was published posthumously in 1924. Melville died from cardiovascular disease in 1891.
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was no longer well known to the public, but the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival. Moby-Dick eventually would be considered one of the great American novels.
Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in dire financial straits. He took to sea in 1839 as a common sailor on a merchant ship and then on the whaler Acushnet, but he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands. Typee, his first book, and its sequel, Omoo (1847), were travel-adventures based on his encounters with the peoples of the islands. Their success gave him the financial security to marry Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of the Boston jurist Lemuel Shaw. Mardi (1849), a romance-adventure and his first book not based on his own experience, was not well received. Redburn (1849) and White-Jacket (1850), both tales based on his experience as a well-born young man at sea, were given respectable reviews, but did not sell well enough to support his expanding family.
Melville's growing literary ambition showed in Moby-Dick (1851), which took nearly a year and a half to write, but it did not find an audience, and critics scorned his psychological novel Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (1852). From 1853 to 1856, Melville published short fiction in magazines, including "Benito Cereno" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener". In 1857, he traveled to England, toured the Near East, and published his last work of prose, The Confidence-Man (1857). He moved to New York in 1863, eventually taking a position as a United States customs inspector.
From that point, Melville focused his creative powers on poetry. Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) was his poetic reflection on the moral questions of the American Civil War. In 1867, his eldest child Malcolm died at home from a self-inflicted gunshot. Melville's metaphysical epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land was published in 1876. In 1886, his other son Stanwix died of apparent tuberculosis, and Melville retired. During his last years, he privately published two volumes of poetry, and left one volume unpublished. The novella Billy Budd was left unfinished at his death, but was published posthumously in 1924. Melville died from cardiovascular disease in 1891.
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73 reviews All reviews
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To be fair, I only read the stuff about "Bartleby." Wonderful!
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Thanks to my boyfriend's grandfather, who loaned this to me, I think I may be becoming a Melville fan girl - all three of these stories were excellent.
Bartleby was perfectly weirdly askew, and my favourite of the three, for being odd and prosaic and having no tendencies to drift into noble sailors. Benito Cereno is an exceedingly creepy thriller of a sea story, although I think it could have safely dispensed with everything after the climax.. the denouement really didn't add anything except some filling in of details that weren't needed. Billy Budd was steeped in symbolism (and I probably missed a bunch of it, even) and morality, yet still surprisingly, enjoyably, readable.
Bartleby was perfectly weirdly askew, and my favourite of the three, for being odd and prosaic and having no tendencies to drift into noble sailors. Benito Cereno is an exceedingly creepy thriller of a sea story, although I think it could have safely dispensed with everything after the climax.. the denouement really didn't add anything except some filling in of details that weren't needed. Billy Budd was steeped in symbolism (and I probably missed a bunch of it, even) and morality, yet still surprisingly, enjoyably, readable.
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I had to read "Bill Budd" and "Bartleby the Scrivener" for my grad school class on Melville. Pretty interesting stories and a good reminder on Melville's writing style before I start reading "Moby Dick" again.
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3.5 stars
The universe is a cold, brutal and unforgiving place. That idea might not be original, but it is unexpected given that it comes from Herman Melville and the context of his early-nineteenth-century New England society. The novelist wrote during the little-remembered American Renaissance, which is often identified with the quasi-philosophical and -religious Transcendentalist movement. Among its core beliefs were the inherent goodness of man and nature, a focus on humanism with concomitant rejection of Calvinism and doctrinaire piety and embrace of the infinite perfectibility of man.
Melville is having none of this. Cruelty, complexity and absurdity characterize these stories. Bartleby the Scrivener is a confounding man suffering from depression who is without family, is homeless and ends in prison, Benito Cereno is the captain of a slave ship and Billy Budd is an innocent, angelic sylph accused of mutiny who murders his accuser. At the same time, the stories are balanced with a tincture of benignity. A put-upon lawyer cannot force Bartleby into the streets, an American sea captain rescues Benito Cereno from death at the hands of slaves in revolt and Captain Vere is sometimes seen as a good man trapped by bad law, even if he condemns Billy Budd to hanging.
Bartleby the Scrivener is a masterpiece and something of a precursor to the absurdist quality of European existentialism that had yet to crystalize and dominate much twentieth century thought and expression. Indeed, the story might represent among the most trenchant depictions of that tangled philosophical and literary movement ever produced, though Melville is rarely identified with it.
Melville's a writing style is a mixed blessing. It has a Victorian quality, with its eloquence and high style, but he often eschews simplicity when simplicity would suffice. Bartleby the Scrivener is an exception to this. At the same time, Melville's high style is something of a delight. Vere's prolix analysis of sea law and the legal deposition that forms that last section of Benito Cereno are pleasures to read.
The universe is a cold, brutal and unforgiving place. That idea might not be original, but it is unexpected given that it comes from Herman Melville and the context of his early-nineteenth-century New England society. The novelist wrote during the little-remembered American Renaissance, which is often identified with the quasi-philosophical and -religious Transcendentalist movement. Among its core beliefs were the inherent goodness of man and nature, a focus on humanism with concomitant rejection of Calvinism and doctrinaire piety and embrace of the infinite perfectibility of man.
Melville is having none of this. Cruelty, complexity and absurdity characterize these stories. Bartleby the Scrivener is a confounding man suffering from depression who is without family, is homeless and ends in prison, Benito Cereno is the captain of a slave ship and Billy Budd is an innocent, angelic sylph accused of mutiny who murders his accuser. At the same time, the stories are balanced with a tincture of benignity. A put-upon lawyer cannot force Bartleby into the streets, an American sea captain rescues Benito Cereno from death at the hands of slaves in revolt and Captain Vere is sometimes seen as a good man trapped by bad law, even if he condemns Billy Budd to hanging.
Bartleby the Scrivener is a masterpiece and something of a precursor to the absurdist quality of European existentialism that had yet to crystalize and dominate much twentieth century thought and expression. Indeed, the story might represent among the most trenchant depictions of that tangled philosophical and literary movement ever produced, though Melville is rarely identified with it.
Melville's a writing style is a mixed blessing. It has a Victorian quality, with its eloquence and high style, but he often eschews simplicity when simplicity would suffice. Bartleby the Scrivener is an exception to this. At the same time, Melville's high style is something of a delight. Vere's prolix analysis of sea law and the legal deposition that forms that last section of Benito Cereno are pleasures to read.
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так вышло, что перевел вот (только "Бартлби"). Гоголева "Шинель" вышла 11 годами раньше, Чеховов "Человек в футляре" 45 годами позже, а посередине был у нас и такой вот "маленький человек" примерно той же породы. хотя на самом деле, конечно, это жуткая "тварь, не желавшая уходить" из фильма ужасов или скетча "субботнего вечера живьем", прямо-таки эпитома кошмарности этого самого "маленького человека". концептуальный яд Мелвилла брызжет здесь так, что проедает потолок и стены
…и при всем при том вот уже больше 170 лет сам по себе Бартлби – прекрасный пробный камень и лакмусовая бумажка, на которых прекрасно проверяются “чаяния” т.н. “либеральной интеллигенции”, потому что рассказ, вообще говоря, не о нем
…и при всем при том вот уже больше 170 лет сам по себе Бартлби – прекрасный пробный камень и лакмусовая бумажка, на которых прекрасно проверяются “чаяния” т.н. “либеральной интеллигенции”, потому что рассказ, вообще говоря, не о нем
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O que têm em comum Billy Budd, Bartleby e Benito Cereno? São três desgraçados, sendo que o primeiro e o terceiro são marinheiros desgraçados e Bartleby acho que não esteve no mar, ou será que esteve e por isso é que prefere não fazer? Pode ser, já que não conhecemos o seu passado. Seria também marinheiro?
Melville escreve bem, não há dúvida, mas, em Billy Budd e, principalmente em Benito Cereno é muito maçudo. Neste último senti-me como se estivesse a ler a descrição d'o casarão. Descrevia, descrevia e nunca mais desenvolvia, sendo que é um acontecimento simples para o qual chegavam 50 páginas, se tanto. Aborrecido, e ainda para mais, cheio de termos náuticos. Acho que não gosto de livros com histórias de marinheiros.
Quanto ao Bartleby, muita gente gosta da história e, de certeza que gostaria de responder ao chefe, "preferia não o fazer", mas isso não o levou muito longe. Não o achei um insolente ou insubordinado, nem sequer arrojado, mas apenas alguém com um trauma qualquer que nunca saberemos qual era. Nesta história é que se devia ter esticado, Sr. Melville.
Billy Budd - 3*
Bartleby - 3*
Benito Cereno - 2*
Melville escreve bem, não há dúvida, mas, em Billy Budd e, principalmente em Benito Cereno é muito maçudo. Neste último senti-me como se estivesse a ler a descrição d'o casarão. Descrevia, descrevia e nunca mais desenvolvia, sendo que é um acontecimento simples para o qual chegavam 50 páginas, se tanto. Aborrecido, e ainda para mais, cheio de termos náuticos. Acho que não gosto de livros com histórias de marinheiros.
Quanto ao Bartleby, muita gente gosta da história e, de certeza que gostaria de responder ao chefe, "preferia não o fazer", mas isso não o levou muito longe. Não o achei um insolente ou insubordinado, nem sequer arrojado, mas apenas alguém com um trauma qualquer que nunca saberemos qual era. Nesta história é que se devia ter esticado, Sr. Melville.
Billy Budd - 3*
Bartleby - 3*
Benito Cereno - 2*
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Hard to read and understand...possibly because it was written so long ago. His writing is wordy, long winded, needs much editing. Not a fan.
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