Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Herman Melville's "Bartleby the scrivener"

I prefer not to write a long analysis of this remarkable short story by Herman Melville. The net is full of different interpretations of this deceptively simple tale. Suffice to say that Bartleby's gradual passive detachment from his expected professional and social obligations is in itself a powerful statement on the human condition. We are born into a life of constraints. We take our choices and our prefabricated lives for granted. Like puppets on a string we give great performances, we bow to routine and turn the giant clock's hands on the hour, every hour. As integrated parts of a system we cannot afford to stop. The show must go on and then... Bartleby prefers not to. He finds it more interesting to just stare at the wall. Many an analyst in the internet, especially after reading Melville's "explanation" at the end of the story, talk about how dead Bartleby is. But I wonder. Maybe Bartleby while staring at the wall actually found the door. But that is another story by H.G Wells.

3 comments:

  1. Jamais lu. Max aimait beaucoup. Je crois de toutes façons que je sais bien, hélàs!, de quoi il s'agit... J'ai apprécié ton commentaire.

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  2. "Phrazphrares"
    Bartleby, un des anges tutélaires dans le firmament; "I would prefer not to..." est une des phrases phares du XX siècle, une vraie "phrazphare". Dommage qu'elle est été si peu employée, on aurait eu moins de goulags et de camps de concentration et de génocides... dans notre cher XX siècle. Imaginons una armée de bureaucrates soviétiques, ou allemands, ou chinois qui auraient eu cette phrazphare en bouche... Commme Oblomov, Bartleby aurait du être donneur de sperme...
    Et bientôt "Redburn" de Melville sur www.funambulista.net, inédit en espagnol.
    Amicalement votre,
    m

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  3. Qu'elle "ait" été, sorry!
    Les aléas du direct... L'orthographe avant toute chose!
    m

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