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About this book
What would happen if you always answered “I would prefer not to” when asked to do something? Bartleby knows about this. He works as a law copyist in Wall Street, but now he refuses to do any task at all. No matter how weird Bartleby seems to be, he also looks quite lonely and it worries people, especially when he starts refusing more crucial necessities. This story takes you from laughter to melancholy, questioning the limits of isolation and empathy. So meet the strange Bartleby and learn all about his quiet refusal that unsettles an entire world of work!
Author
Herman Melville
Read by
Bob Neufeld
Story
Part I
Bartleby, the Scrivener
A STORY OF WALL-STREET
by Herman Melville
Part I
I am a rather elderly man. The nature of my avocations for the last thirty years has brought me into more than ordinary contact with what would seem an interesting and somewhat singular set of men, of whom as yet nothing that I know of has ever been written:—I mean the law-copyists or scriveners. I have known very many of them, professionally and privately, and if I pleased, could relate divers histories, at which good-natured gentlemen might smile, and sentimental souls might weep. But I waive the biographies of all other scriveners for a few passages in the life of Bartleby, who was a scrivener of the strangest I ever saw or heard of. While of other law-copyists I might write the complete life, of Bartleby nothing of that sort can be done. I believe that no materials exist for a full and satisfactory biography of this man. It is an irreparable loss to literature. Bartleby was one of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable, except from the original sources, and in his case those are very small. What my own astonished eyes saw of Bartleby, that is all I know of him, except, indeed, one vague report which will appear in the sequel.
Ere introducing the scrivener, as he first appeared to me, it is fit I make some mention of myself, my employés, my business, my chambers, and general surroundings; because some such description is indispensable to an adequate understanding of the chief character about to be presented.
Imprimis: I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best. Hence, though I belong to a profession proverbially energetic and nervous, even to turbulence, at times, yet nothing of that sort have I ever suffered to invade my peace. 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...
Section 1 of 4 sections
🎧
Audiobook Available
Listen to Bartleby, the Scrivener in the app. It's free and ad-free.
About this book
What would happen if you always answered “I would prefer not to” when asked to do something? Bartleby knows about this. He works as a law copyist in Wall Street, but now he refuses to do any task at all. No matter how weird Bartleby seems to be, he also looks quite lonely and it worries people, especially when he starts refusing more crucial necessities. This story takes you from laughter to melancholy, questioning the limits of isolation and empathy. So meet the strange Bartleby and learn all about his quiet refusal that unsettles an entire world of work!
Author
Herman Melville
Read by
Bob Neufeld
Story
Part I
Bartleby, the Scrivener
A STORY OF WALL-STREET
by Herman Melville
Part I
I am a rather elderly man. The nature of my avocations for the last thirty years has brought me into more than ordinary contact with what would seem an interesting and somewhat singular set of men, of whom as yet nothing that I know of has ever been written:—I mean the law-copyists or scriveners. I have known very many of them, professionally and privately, and if I pleased, could relate divers histories, at which good-natured gentlemen might smile, and sentimental souls might weep. But I waive the biographies of all other scriveners for a few passages in the life of Bartleby, who was a scrivener of the strangest I ever saw or heard of. While of other law-copyists I might write the complete life, of Bartleby nothing of that sort can be done. I believe that no materials exist for a full and satisfactory biography of this man. It is an irreparable loss to literature. Bartleby was one of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable, except from the original sources, and in his case those are very small. What my own astonished eyes saw of Bartleby, that is all I know of him, except, indeed, one vague report which will appear in the sequel.
Ere introducing the scrivener, as he first appeared to me, it is fit I make some mention of myself, my employés, my business, my chambers, and general surroundings; because some such description is indispensable to an adequate understanding of the chief character about to be presented.
Imprimis: I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best. Hence, though I belong to a profession proverbially energetic and nervous, even to turbulence, at times, yet nothing of that sort have I ever suffered to invade my peace. 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...
Section 1 of 4 sections
