Melville’s Majestic Missive: “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street”

Abstract

In keeping with the spirit of American Studies, this article engages in an interdisciplinary examination of Herman Melville’s short story, “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” (1853). Employing a broad literary-critical-historical methodology that also incorporates cultural and social theory, I sociohistorically contextualize “Bartleby” and demonstrate how this stylistically innovative short story anticipated later works of modernist, existential, and postmodern literature. Now internationally renowned as a classic of American literature, “Bartleby” is of interest not only for its historically innovative style—which continues to resonate with contemporary readers—but also for how it potentially serves as Melville’s self-reflexive meditation on his then declining literary career.