Find more facts and information on our topic page about
Wall Street
Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street
The Oxford Companion to American Literature
|
1995
|
|
© The Oxford Companion to American Literature 1995, originally published by Oxford University Press 1995. (Hide copyright information)
Copyright
Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street, symbolic tale by
Melville published anonymously in
Putnam's Magazine (1853) and reprinted in
The Piazza Tales (1856). One view is that it reflects Melville's futility at the neglect of his novels (
Dead Letters) and his uncertainty about how to relate to society.
A Wall Street lawyer hires Bartleby, a curious, wraith‐like figure, as a copyist. Bartleby refuses to mingle with the other employees, and, when asked to do anything besides copying documents, invariably says, “I would prefer not to.” Some inner dignity or pathos in him prevents his being discharged, even when he ceases to work and uses the office for living quarters. The lawyer moves to another building, and the new tenant has Bartleby arrested. Visited in prison by the lawyer, he is silent and refuses favors. Soon he dies, and the lawyer hears a rumor that Bartleby was formerly a clerk in the Dead Letter Office, whose strange atmosphere affected his attitude toward life to the end.
Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.
|
Walls That Talk, in Harmony; At the Nigerian Embassy, a Sweeping Curve of Stone Meets a Rectangle of Glass
Newspaper article from: The Washington Post; 3/16/2002; ; 700+ words
; ...able to build his "heroic" wall, and to join it dramatically...but very different -- wall. Together, the two shape...International Center, near Van Ness Street and Reno Road NW. Though Baranes...then, at the building's two walls. The one is "Roman" in the...that it is a powerful masonry ...
|
|
Walls of GREEN.
Magazine article from: Sarasota Magazine; 10/1/2000; ; 700+ words
; ...Why choose an isolating wall when a pretty hedge can...beating at the green walls of the fabled New York...fixtures along our busy streets, in beach neighborhoods...have chosen for their walls. Visitors to the area...to hide. "I know why walls are popular," says...for example, a busy ...
|
|
WALLS OF STONE REQUIRE TIME, THE RIGHT TOUCH
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 4/16/1989; ; 700+ words
; ...well: He fills the inside of his walls with pea stone, giving walls the mass he likes, a wall so full of stone there is not much...leads to another. He worked on one street for seven months, building walls for six of the houses on that street...
|
|
|
Retaining walls are tumbling down Roxbury residents, the city argue over who is responsible for cost of repairs
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 10/25/1998; ; 700+ words
; ...details. We don't want the wall to crumble." Although no official...100,000, to repair the wall. The larger issue, he says...maintenance plan for other retaining walls. Saunders is discussing that...officials to further discuss the wall. "It likely will come to an...retaining wall on nearby ...
|
|
WALLS GOING UP TO TURN NOISE DOWN COMMODORE PARK, FAIRLAWN ESTATES GETTING SOME RELIEF.(LOCAL)
Newspaper article from: The Virginian Pilot; 7/9/2004; 700+ words
; ...under the trees on West Chester Street to get a sense of the din and...that construction of sound walls had begun. The interstate...thunder along West Chester Street. It will take about 15 months...from First to Fourth View streets in Pamlico . And planning has begun for walls along ...
|
|
Walls of: blues Father and son were truly brothers in blues
Newspaper article from: Charleston Daily Mail; 4/29/1999; 700+ words
; ...Jones recalled the days when Walls played a number of Charleston...It was the early '60s and Walls had recently appeared at the...playing at the Juke Box on Court Street and Harry would come by and...You had to play it all." Walls also left his mark on the playing...
|
|
The Wall Street Journal Sunday Network Expands to Include Five Lee Newspapers.
Business Wire; 12/11/2001; 700+ words
; ...amp; Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, announced today that...of 1,370,256 who carry The Wall Street Journal Sunday's weekly three...both news and advertising. The Wall Street Journal Sunday, started in 1999...
|
|
The Chinese wall metaphor
Magazine article from: et Cetera; 7/1/2003; ; 700+ words
; ...confidence. The metaphor of the "Chinese Wall" played a prominent role. There are many walls in China, but the "Chinese Wall" metaphor refers to the Great Wall...separated research from banking on Wall Street" (Cresswell, 2002). The metaphor...
|
|
|
The Wall Street Journal Sunday Partner Roster Grows; Six Media General Newspapers and Three Other Papers to Carry Sunday Journal.
Business Wire; 4/30/2002; 700+ words
; ...amp; Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, announced today that...nine newspapers are joining the Wall Street Journal Sunday Content Partnership...amp; Company In addition to The Wall Street Journal and its international and...
|
|
|
The Wall Street Journal Sunday Adds the Albuquerque - N.M. - Sunday Journal as a Partner Newspaper; The Newspaper Is Set To Join the Sunday Journal Advertising Network Starting April 3, 2005.
Business Wire; 3/27/2005; 700+ words
; ...amp; Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal--the world's leading...Another 53 newspapers belong to The Wall Street Journal Sunday Content Partnership...amp; Company In addition to The Wall Street Journal and its international and...
|
|
Wall Drug Store, Inc.
Book article from: International Directory of Company Histories
Wall Drug Store, Inc. 510 Main Street Wall, South Dakota 57709 U.S.A. Telephone: (605) 279-2175...42221 Drugs and Druggist ’ s Sundries Wholesalers Wall Drug Store, Inc. is a unique institution in the annals of American...
|
|
Jeff Wall
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of World Biography
...life. By the late 1970s, Wall had tired of creating documentaries...so. Inspiration struck when Wall noticed how lighted advertisements on city streets captured his attention...to photography and film." Wall explored this new, free medium...
|
|
Wall Street
Encyclopedia entry from: Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History
WALL STREET Wall Street, in the...of financial power. Wall Street is an umbrella term encompassing...its physical sense, Wall Street, a street on the south tip of Manhattan...block with Broad and New streets, location of the nation...
|
|
Wall Street Journal
Dictionary entry from: Dictionary of American History
WALL STREET JOURNAL WALL STREET JOURNAL. Charles...expanded further with the launch of the Asian Wall Street Journal in 1976 and the Wall Street Journal...eight local languages worldwide, the Wall Street Journal Sunday, and WallStreetJournal...
|
|
Berlin Wall
Encyclopedia entry from: International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
...into an insurmountable concrete wall that averaged 12 feet high and...long, dividing neighborhoods, streets, and even houses. An elaborate...of fortifications with a back wall, a minefield, a jeep road...and searchlights made the wall impenetrable, and those who...
|
