Éude de l'histoire Bartleby The Srivener de Herman Melville (document en anglais)

Bartleby the Scrivener

Bartleby the scrivener is a short story of Herman Melville published in Putnam’s Monthly in November 1853. The story is told by an external narrator who is a jurist of Wall Street committing in its study Bartleby as a scrivener. In his study, the narrator has already 3 employees: Turkey, Nippers and Ginger Nut. Both first ones are copyists and the last one is an office assistant. The narrator obtains a post more important as Master in Chancery and owed committed an additional employee: Bartleby. In the first days of his work he was irreproachable but slowly Bartleby stops working completely. At certain stage the narrator asked many questions on him: who was he? Where from did he come? Had he relatives? None answers was given in all the text because Bartleby is a « man who «prefer» more not play the game of the men, or, as we would say today, who prefers not to play anymore the game of the men. He expresses this preference by a polite conditional, I would prefer not». The narrator has four keys of its study: the one is at the cleaning lady's, the other one at Turkey, the third other one than the narrator holds but the fourth is untraceable. The narrator discovers afterward that Bartleby detain it and that he lives in his study. The narrator is tried to dismiss him to some resumed but he is as powerless once in front of him and his «I prefer not » because all the person that embodies Bartleby made pity for the narrator, he even tells to begin to have some friendship for him while he never says word. He finally asks him to leave by saying to him that he had to leave the next day. He says to him that he will assure it financially if he needed it and leaves him dollars on the table. But the next day Bartleby is always there in its study, he did not take the money and he did not leave. The narrator gets into a panic, gets excited, calms down then decides to change workplace and left Bartleby in what will become his previous office. It worked, but not for a long time because the new owner of the old office had come complain about Bartleby who did not always want to leave premises, the narrator released any responsibility to his former employee. But he decided to go at the previous office and tried to talk with Bartleby. But there is nothing to do; he did not want to leave, so the narrator gives up and leave the town for a moment because he did not want to be harassing by the new owner. So he travelled. But when he came back, he found a letter in his desk saying that Bartleby was in jail. He was in jail but he was kind free, because he can walk freely in the jail. The narrator visited him but Bartleby, once again, was not very talkative. Bartleby refused to eat and it was the cause of its death.

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