An increase in work leads the lawyer to look for a third scrivener and, as he has been having difficulties with the temperamental natures of the other two, he decides to hire Bartleby, a quiet man whom he hopes will be a good influence on the others.Īt first Bartleby works hard at his copying, but when the lawyer asks him to proofread a copied document, he replies with, “I would prefer not to”. The narrator is an elderly Wall Street lawyer who employs two clerks, or ‘scriveners’ – Turkey and Nippers – whose job is to make copies of legal documents, and one office boy, Ginger Nut. My favourite was the first story, Bartleby the Scrivener, which was first published in Putnam’s Magazine in 1853. I Would Prefer Not To contains four stories, although the final one takes up more than half the book and is probably better described as a novella.

I’ve never read anything by Herman Melville – I know I should have read Moby Dick by now, but it has never sounded appealing to me – so when I spotted this new collection of Melville short stories from Pushkin Press it seemed a good opportunity to experience some of his work without having to commit to a 600+ page novel. I received this book as a free eBook ARC in exchange for an honest review. I would recommend this book to short story fans, readers of 19th-century fiction, and those who, like me, are intrigued to learn what kind of fiction Melville wrote other than Moby Dick. The latter was my favourite piece in the collection, as Melville painted such a marvellous portrait of the enigmatic Bartleby that, as a reader, I could share in the narrator's confusion and consternation over his strange new employee. However, 'Benito Cereno' held my interest, as did 'Bartleby, the Scrivener'. 'The Lightening-Rod Man' and 'John Marr' I found so-so. Overall, I would say that I prefer these shorter works of his to Moby Dick. So, when I saw I Would Prefer Not To listed on NetGalley, I immediately requested a review copy, as I was keen to give Melville another try and see what some of his other writing was like. Until yesterday, I confess the only work of Melville's I had read was Moby Dick, and it is not a book I've ever been especially fond of.

Bartleby the scrivener i prefer not to