Bartleby the Scrivener

I would tell you what I think of this story, but I prefer not to.

What a pleasure it is to return to a work of genius and find it inexhaustible! What a host of insights, what a web of subtleties, are contained within this short account of the breakdown of one man in a five man office!I think of Melville the sailor, accustomed to wide sea vistas and many sea duties, recoiling at the confined, reduced lives of New York City office workers. I think of Melville the innovative writer, his popularity—and income—waning as his daring increased, contemplating the a [...]

Ah, Bartleby. Ah, Humanity.At first, as I tried to contain my surprise that Melville, who awed me in Moby Dick, was now writing with such humour and lightness, I felt that Bartleby was a Heroic figure, someone to be admired and emulated - and a welcome break from the complicated characters of the doomed ship.On second thought, with a slight sinking feeling, I felt he might be a Romantic figure, someone to be eulogized and applauded.Then, still upbeat about the simplicity of the novella, I was su [...]

أفضل ألاأكتب أي شيء عن هذه القصة القصيرة، و لكن في نفس الوقت و بنفس درجة الإلحاح في عدم الكتابة أفضل أن أكتب أي شيء، شعور متناقض أليس كذلك ؟ ." كيف هذا ؟ قال ممون الطعام مخاطبا إياي و هو يحدق بذهول في : إنه غريبأليس كذلك ؟ "- نعم أوافقك الرأي تماما : إنه غريب " لو كان ثمة أي شيء بشري � [...]

I could ask you to look beyond your desk if you are at work or peep down your balcony if you are at home and spot a Bartleby. But I would prefer not to. I could urge you to frame that calamitous Bartleby whose 'selective' inveterate muteness is either enhancing your tolerance reserves or sharpening your fighting skills. But I would prefer not to. I could exhort you to unsuccessfully debase this Bartleby’s assiduity in light of his proven peculiarity. But I would prefer not to. I could ask you [...]

"لكنه يبدو وحيدًا، وحيدًا تمامًا في الكون، قطعة من حُطام سفينة في عُرض الأطلنطي."سمعت بهذه القصة لأول مرة من خلال هذا الموقع، فرأيت الكثير من القرّاء يراجعونها وبدوا متأثرين بها كثيرًا، وقد بقيت عالقة في ذهني لفترة من الوقت، وقبل عدة أيام، حين كنت أقوم بتحرير لترجمة كتاب Everybo [...]

Tulsa Doom: Bartleby the Scrivener, contemplate this on the tree of woe.Bartleby the Scrivener: I would prefer not to.Monica Bellucci: Bartleby, come to me!Bartleby the Scrivener: Um Melville as a pre-existentialist, good read, and funny, also a precursor to absurdist theater, it reads like a long joke, I was left waiting for the punch line

My favorite short story of all time! "I prefer not to" is the best answer ever.

happiness courts the light, so we deem the world is gay; but misery hides aloof, so we deem that misery there is none. (15)I see a blurred silhouette. There is a person sitting at table. He is writing. He doesn't look up. Nobody could have ever seen his face. It's been hours and he doesn't get up. A man, a chair, a table and a million papers. The spitting image of desolation. Does he have any life outside that place? Probably not. I hope he does.I read about this particular theme concerning jobs [...]

“Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!”Reading the closing lines of this novella, one part of my self immediately exclaims:“That was unexpected, brilliant, absolutely perfect, let’s write a review!”Another part of me, confused, stubborn, rebellious, rejoins: “I prefer not to!”My social self, eager to share my reading experience, and to act according to the established patterns and traditions I have set up for my literary projects, cannot understand that attitude, as it doesn’t make any sense [...]

What an amazing story about a scrivener! I haven't read such an excellent novella as this in a long time.Set in the 1850's and narrated by a lawyer in New York, this tale breathes and glows like a star and yet death is lurking in the background throughout. The lawyer has known many scriveners but not one such as this particular individual who continues to fascinate him so much. Nuances about the bible with Adam and Eve, etc. give such a sense of place and spirit to this work that I can only desc [...]

I can see that figure now -- pallidly neat, pitiably respectable, incurably forlorn! It was Bartleby. One more on my reading list that comes from a tip. Thanks again, folks! I've read it in an hour or so, but I believe it will stay with me for a lot longer.I had to check twice the year this novella was first published : 1853!!! I couldn't wrap my mind around how modern and fresh and relevant the story of Bartleby, the human xerox machine, still is. Decades before Franz Kafka or Eugene Ionesco o [...]

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending a public seminar on Herman Melville’s short story, Bartleby, the Scrivener, given by Paul Auster and Nobel Laureate, JM Coetzee, hosted by the NYS Writer’s Institute. Because I am a huge nerd, I sat in the very front of the venue space (the first two rows of the theater were reserved for Writer’s Institute people), so I was in the third row. But Auster and Coetzee sat directly in front of me before the seminar started!! Swoon! I’ve never [...]

Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street, Herman Melville عنوانها: نرجیح میدهم که؛ بارتلبی محرر و چند داستان دیگر؛ نویسنده: هرمان ملویل؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: بیست و سوم دسامتر سال 1979 میلادی و بار دیگر: در بیست و هفتم دسامبر سال 2015 میلادیکتاب «ترجیح می‌دهم که نه» کتابی است که به کوشش «پویا رفویی» و با [...]

"He was more a man of preferences than assumptions."You know I often buy food from a local dhabha ( North Indian native restaurants). The waiters and cooks there work 6 a.m. to 11 p.m seven days a week before going to bed in a room within restaurants.Their whole life involves for months involves waking up at 6, cleaning the place, cooking, serving all day. Their social life for months is limited to the fellow workers. Many of them start working when they aren't even in teens. Literally no job se [...]

Bartleby is a scrivener--essentially, a human copy machine--working for a Manhattan-based lawyer who is the narrator of the tale. His co-workers: two other irritable scriveners of dubious temperament, and a office boy, identified only by their odd nicknames. Initially an industrious employee, Bartleby declines to participate in certain normal office tasks, giving no reason other than his oft-repeated mantra: "I would prefer not to." <----If you say if often and implacably enough, other people [...]

Wow, that was beautiful! How have I never read this before? It's as good as Kafka - as now as Kafka. This man, this Bartleby, is as basic a character as could realistically exist, yet as human. I defy you not to love him, though he barely does more than stand and stare and politely refuse to act. But I defy you not to empathise with the narrator too. This is about as pertinent as fiction gets. Bartleby is Oblomov, the Hunger Artist, Hamsun's stand-in in Hunger and Beckett's in everything from El [...]

Bartleby,To ask you for your preferences, I prefer not.Kall.

أفضل أن أبقى ساكنا! هذا نوع من الأدب الذي أحبه العبثية تحديدا مع جرعة لذيذة من الدعابة لا أدري لم لم أسمع عن الكتاب قبل ذلك حقيقة لا أظن إنه يقل مستوى عن غريب كامو وهو قريب من مسرح اللامعقول بشخصياته الغريبة الأطوار من هو بارتلبي إنه نساخ ذا سلوك غريب ينضم لمكتب محاماة من أجل ن� [...]

Repetí la orden con la mayor claridad posible; pero con claridad se repitió la respuesta.-Preferiría no hacerlo.-Preferiría no hacerlo -repetí como un eco, poniéndome de pie, excitadísimo y cruzando el cuarto a grandes pasos-. ¿Qué quiere decir con eso? Está loco. Necesito que me ayude a confrontar esta página; tómela -y se la alcancé.-Preferiría no hacerlo -dijo.” Detrás de la grandilocuencia epopéyica que resultó tardíamente para la literatura la obra magna de Herman Melvil [...]

Bartleby the Scrivener, Herman Melvilleعنوانها: ترجیح میدهم که نه؛ بارتلبی محرر و چند داستان دیگر؛ نویسنده: هرمان ملویل؛تاریخ نخستین خوانش: نخستین بار بیست و سوم ماه دسامبر سال 1979 میلادی و بار دیگر: بیست و هفتم ماه دسامبر سال 2015 میلادیعنوان: بارتلبی محرر و چند داستان دیگر؛ نویسنده: هرمان ملویل؛ [...]

Bartleby. Bartleby the scrivener. Poor, inconspicuous man. Came from nowhere and disappeared in nothingness leaving us with his canonical already phraseI would prefer not to .Deceptively little reading. But don’t be deceived by appearances. It starts in truly Dickensian style. The old office where one could easily imagine the lawyers in famous Jardynce & Jardynce case and the copyists are more caricatures than real people. But Bartleby ? At first is working as mad by days and nights, dilig [...]

‏"نظيفاً بشكل شاحب، مهذباً بشكل يُرثى له، وبائساً على نحوٍ يتعذَّر شفاؤه!."‏طرق ذلك الشاب "الغريب" باب الوظيفة الجديدة، ليظهر استعداده التام على القيام بأعباءها لم يدرك المحامي العجوز أنه لم يفتح الباب لموظف جديد بل لقصة جديدة سوف تسرقه من نفسه معظم الوقت.بــــــارتلــبــ� [...]

Book Review I remember disliking it because it was all about this guy that slept in an office and his boss came in and he never did any work or something. These are just my first thoughts about the story. Time to read it again. Yes, I did read this. But this time, I think I got more out of it. It’s about choices and what someone will do and won’t do. It’s also about the walls of Wall Street. Basically it’s all about being an individual versus being part of a society. It was suggested at [...]

Primeiro pensei que fosse estrangeiro e não entendesse a língua Ou que fosse surdo Ou só teimoso Ou só parvo Ou então muito esperto Depois apeteceu-me aplicar-lhe um pontapé no traseiro e pô-lo dali para fora De seguida, fazer-lhe festas e levá-lo para casa, como a um cachorro abandonado E perdi a paciência e quis gritar com ele E quis levá-lo para casa e dar-lhe mimos Ou um par de estalos E deu-me vontade de chorar por ele E continuei a querer levá-lo para casa e dar-lhe mimos E quis [...]

I would prefer not to write a review.

بارتلبي النساخ لم اقرأ (موبي ديك) بعد، فلأعترف بهذا من البداية، هذا اعتراف أجرجره معي في كل مكان، قليلة هي العناوين التي أشعر حولها بهذا الشعور الغريب، الخزي ربما!! قد تبدو مفردة الخزي ثقيلة، ولكن هذا هو الشعور الذي تخلفه الكتب العظيمة لدى القارئ النهم، لهذا يصنع لنفسه قوائم � [...]

Bartleby the Scrivener By Bill Bragg"نظيفا بشكل شاحب، مهذبا بشكل يرثى له، وبائسا على نحو يتعذر شفاؤه! كان ذلك بارتلبي"قصة صغيرة غريبة عن بارتلبي، المتوحد الصامت غريب الأطوار الساكن الممتنع عن الفعل أبدا بقوله المهذب "أفضل ألا"، متأملا الجدار طوال الوقت عوضا عن أي شيء آخر، يرويها لنا مديره ذو [...]

IrriducibileQuesto è un racconto misterioso, lo si legge pervasi da un sottile disagio e non lo si dimentica più. Giunti alla fine cerchiamo di tirare le fila della vicenda, ma non ne veniamo a capo in maniera soddisfacente, convincente; i fatti non quadrano, qualcosa non torna. E’ come cercare di montare un mobile senza il libretto di istruzioni (ma credo che la cosa non migliorerebbe anche in presenza di istruzioni): c’è sempre qualcosa che non si incastra alla perfezione, un tassello c [...]