Capture Bartleby, The Scrivener Penned By Herman Melville Physical Book
sat awhile in perfect silence, rallying my stunned faculties, "
Herman Melville's 'Bartleby, the Scrivener', a thoughtprovoking novella with excellent prose, addresses two of the sides of human beings the deep and empathising thought process of the narrator and the selfisolating and selfimposed degressive spirit of the main character.
The story initially feels light and humorous, but then turns heavy, deep and thoughtprovoking,
It feels sad and painful to see a fellow person willfully 'letting go' of their spirit, however it is hurtful more when there is nothing you can do to change the course.
I have sometime before read about the 'policy of selfdetermination', according to which all you can do is guide the person towards exploring options and alternatives but should never influence or force them into doing something, and it is important to realise that, unless they are in an irrational state, it is always up to that person to determine and decide what they want to do.
We, humans, react and respond to life and circumstances in many different ways, The reasons behind a particular decision is also different for each of us, As researchers stated, many factors such as our childhood and upbringing, relationships and many life events
such as loss and death play a key role in our outlook towards our life and future.
Unless we have a completedegree picture of a person's life, it is never appropriate to influence them or even make a judgement,
Bartleby has made a decision for himself, and we ought to respect that,
Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!
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 popularityand incomewaning as his daring increased, contemplating the act of writing considered in itself as a bleak task performed for money.
I think of Melville the prophet, warning of the starkness of the coming metropolis and the small brutalities of cubicle capitalism,
I also marvel at the literary landscape which flows past the windows of this tale, for Bartleby, though it speeds nonstop from the village of Dickens to Kafka Terminal, yet gives us a glimpse of the cities of Dostoevsky and Zola, their chimneys darkening sunset in the hills beyond.
But the truth which haunts me is how precisely Melville delineates how we all surviveor do not surviveour workaday worlds, Either we reduce our personalities to caricature and numb ourselves through substance abuse the clerks Turkey and Nippers or we deceive ourselves through a pattern of benign neglect disrupted by fits of compassion the Manhattan lawyer.
Otherwise we are doomed to be Bartleby, dismantling ourselves little by little, utteringin small “I prefer not to” portionsThe Everlasting No,
آه يا بارتلبي ! آه أيتها الإنسانية !
تقول بثينة العيسي في اقتباس ما أعجبني, . .
sitelink
أما عن هذه الرواية
فسيراودك إحساس لا يقاوم في رغبتك في ان تصرخ في وجه هذا العالم بعد قرائتك لها
سيراودك إحساس فظيع بأنك تريد أن تزيح هذه الإنسانية المزيفة من الوجود
أن تزيلها بكم معطفك. .
أن تمحيها كما تمحي شوائب نظاراتك. .
أن تصحو يوما ما ولا تجدها تحتل بابتسامتها الصفراء وقناعها المزيف غرفتك
كيف يمكننا أن نتخلص منها
كيف يمكننا أن نتخلص من صراخنا الصامت بداخلنا ويأسنا الذي تعدي حدود اليأس
أري بارتلبي هنا, .
وأري بطل رواية ديستويفيسكي في قبوي وأري بطل التحول لكافكا وأري بطل الغثيان لسارتر وأري بطل الغريب لألبير كامي وأري بطل الرهان لتشيكوف. . وإذا أردت يمكنك ان تضيف عليهم بطل مونولوج عازف البيانو ل باريكو وابتسامة عند قدم السلم لهنري ميللر
كلهم نفس البطل كلهم بارتلبي. .
كلهم الصرخة الصامتة ذاتها اليأس ذاته الغربة ذاتها والحضور المقنع بالغياب ذاته
كلهم
يفضلون ألا
!! When a New York lawyer needs to take on another copyist, it is Bartleby who responds to his advertisement, and arrives "pallidly neat, pitiably respectable, incurably forlorn, " At first a diligent employee, he soon begins to refuse work, saying only "I would prefer not to, " So begins the story of Bartlebypassive to the point of absurdity yet paradoxically extremely disruptivewhich rapidly turns from farce to inexplicable tragedy, Accompanying Bartleby, Benito Cereno was first serialized in, and centers around a slave rebellion on board a Spanish merchant ship in, There has to be balance in life so after areview here comes theto keep the average stable, Later edit: I'll upgrade tobecause I will not forget this story, It annoyed me too much, especially the repeat of "I would prefer not to" reply,
Here is what I understood this story is about, Sometime in midth century, a lawyer needs another helping hand and hires ath clerk, Bartleby, The clerk seems to be at first quiet and competent but he soon refuses to do some of his duties replying with "I would prefer not to", Instead of firing his ass, the lawyer feels sorry for the new aid and gives him another chance after another chance, ending up burdening himself and his other clerks with additional tasks.
Bartleby refuses to do more and more jobs, he even moves into the office without informing his employer, At some point, the lawyer decides to fire the Bartleby but it proves not to be easy to get rid of him, I did not understand the behaviour of the lawyer and his endless goodwill, Bartleby either was very lazy or as the explanation offered by the narrator very depressed, If depression was the case it probably was I can support reaching out to a person and trying to help them but in the end it is not the employers responsibility to treat mental health problems.
Yes, it would be nice not to create them, fairness and a pleasant working environment is always welcomed but thats it, I did not understand the point of this short story, really, I could not feel sorry for Bartleby although I tried, His refusal to work was annoying although I tried to be sympathetic as the author is trying to makes us feel towards the character, I decided to read a few comments to better understand what others saw in this story, Some wrote it is a story about capitalism and about individuality, I dont see it, sorry, I would probably get more from this at and reading butI would prefer not to, Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street, Herman Melville
Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street is a short story by the American writer Herman Melville, first serialized anonymously in two parts in the November and Decemberissues of Putnam's Magazine, and reprinted with minor textual alterations in his The Piazza Tales in.
In the story, a Wall Street lawyer hires a new clerk who, after an initial bout of hard work, refuses to make copy or do any other task required of him, with the words "I would prefer not to".
The lawyer cannot bring himself to remove Bartleby from his premises, and decides instead to move his office, but the new proprietor removes Bartleby to prison, where he perishes.
عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: ترجیح میدهم که نه بارتلبی محرر و چند داستان دیگر نویسنده: هرمان ملویل تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و سوم ماه دسامبر سالمیلادی و بار دیگر در روز بیست و هفتم دسامبر سالمیلادی
عنوان: بارتلبی محرر و چند داستان دیگر نویسنده: هرمان ملویل مترجم: هوشنگ پیرنظر تهران آگاهدرص موضوع: داستانهای کوتاه از نویسندگان امریکایی سدهم
عنوان: ترجیح میدهم که نه بارتلبی محرر و چند داستان دیگر نویسنده: هرمان ملویل مترجمها: گروه مترجمان نیکا گزینش و ویرایش: پویا رفویی تهران نشر نیکاص چاپ دومشابک
در این داستان وکیلی از وال استریت دفترداری را استخدام میکند او پس از کوشش و کار چند روزه برای رونوشتبرداری یا انجام هرکار یا وظیفه دیگری که به او واگذار میشود سر باز میزند آنهم هربار با گفتن جمله ترجیح میدهم نکنم کتاب ترجیح میدهم که نه کتابی است که به کوشش جناب آقای پویا رفویی و با ترجمه ی جناب آقای کاوه میرعباسی در سالهجری خورشیدی در نشر نیکا منتشر شده و شامل داستان بارتلبی محرر و سه جستار فلسفی است ژیل دلوز فیلسوف فرانسوی در یکی از آخرین مقاله های خود با عنوان بارتلبی یا یک فرمول به این داستان هرمان ملویل پرداخته که با ترجمۀ جناب آقای شهریار وقفی پور در این کتاب موجود است جناب آقای امیر احمدی آریان نیز مقاله ای از ژاک رانسیر با عنوان دلوز بارتلبی و فرمول ادبی را ترجمه کرده اند که در آن به بررسی و روشن کردن دیدگاه دلوز درباره ی همین داستان بارتلبی پرداخته شده است عنوان مقاله ی سوم کتاب بارتلبی یا در باب حدوث است که در آن جورجو آگامبن وجوه دیگر همین داستان را بررسی کرده ترجمه ی مقاله ی سوم از جناب آقای امید مهرگان و جناب آقای پویا رفویی است
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی هجری خورشیدی هجری خورشیدی ا, شربیانی “Ah, happiness courts the light, so we deem the world is gay but misery hides aloof, so we deem that misery there is none, ”
You know that colleague who doesnt do their fair share, leaving you and others to pick up the slack
And the one who is too good at what they do and makes everyone else look bad
What about the alcoholic who doesnt pull their weight after a daily liquid lunch
Or the inscrutable one who may be battling mental illness or other issues, but is nevertheless infuriating
How should management juggle compassion and fairness amid such diversity
How much carelessness, laziness, and insubordination should they tolerate
This short novella about a small office, way back in, is remarkably pertinent, decorated with some charmingly antiquated turns of phrase.
It is both funnier and more tragic than I expected,
The setup
The unnamed narrator is pushing sixty:
“I am one of those unambitious lawyers who never addresses a jury, or in any way draws down public applause but in the cool tranquility of a snug retreat, do a snug business among rich men's bonds and mortgages and titledeeds”.
He employs two scriveners and an office boy, known by nicknames: Turkey, Nippers, and Ginger Nut, His grotty chambers are described with amusing understatement:
“My windows commanded an unobstructed view of a lofty brick wall, black by age and everlasting shade,
Image: The view sitelinkSource
He portrays himself as a benevolent, but ineffectual, boss: anyone else would long ago have fired Turkey for his “eccentricities”, thus, an additional scrivener is required:
“In answer to my advertisement, a motionless young man one morning, stood upon my office threshold, the door being open, for it was summer.
I can see that figure nowpallidly neat, pitiably respectable, incurably forlorn! It was Bartleby, ”
At first, Bartleby is very industrious, Hes also silent, pale, and mechanical, “On the third day” such a weighted phrase, the boss asks Bartleby to do a minor task, within his duties:
“Bartleby in a singularly mild, firm voice, replied, I would prefer not to.
”
And he sticks to that,
WWYD
What would you do if you were the boss
How would you feel if you were Turkey, Nippers, and Ginger Nut
And why is Bartleby behaving this way
The story progresses, with humour and tragedy, but very few answers.
Its brilliant.
“Up to a certain point the thought or sight of misery enlists our best affections but, in certain special cases, beyond that point it does not.
”
If Bartleby worked for me, Im unsure what I would do, Id certainly be curious, and Id have sympathy for some of the revelations and assumptions about his life, However, I dont think Id be as lenient as the boss says he was,
It explores work, duty, charity, mental illhealth, fate and free will, and the power of the word “prefer”,
Image: Bartleby would prefer not to sitelinkSource
Quotes
“He was a man whom prosperity harmed.
”
“When a man is browbeaten in some unprecedented and violently unreasonable way, he begins to stagger in his own plainest faith, He begins, as it were, vaguely to surmise that, wonderful as it may be, all the justice and all the reason is on the other side, ”
“Nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance, ”
“His cadaverously gentlemanly nonchalance, ”
“His mildly cadaverous reply, ”
“But he answered not a word like the last column of some ruined temple, he remained standing mute and solitary in the middle of the otherwise deserted room.
”
“You will not
I prefer not, ”
See also
You can read the novella free, online, on Gutenberg, sitelinkHERE,
For a contemporary take on a similar situation and themes, see Jonas Karlssons The Room, and my review sitelinkHERE,
Gogol's The Overcoat, See my review sitelinkHERE,
Kafka in general, and a specific story of his, See my Kafka shelf sitelinkHERE,
Towards the end, I thought more of JL Borges, See my overview review of his works sitelinkHERE,
Short story club
I reread this as one of the stories in sitelinkThe Art of the Short Story, by Dana Gioia, from which I'm aiming to read one story a week with sitelinkThe Short Story Club, startingMay.
You can read this story sitelinkhere,
You can join the group sitelinkhere, .