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Four Short Novels
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Four Short Novels
Bartleby.--
The Encantadas, or enchanted isles.--
Benito Cereno.--
Billy Budd, foretopman.
The Encantadas, or enchanted isles.--
Benito Cereno.--
Billy Budd, foretopman.
Published
(first published 1924)
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I picked this volume up in a used bookstore on vacation in Georgetown, Colorado. It contains four novellas - Benito Cereno, Bartleby the Scrivener, The Encantadas, and Billy Budd.
I had read Bartleby and Billy Budd before back on the boat but was struck this time by Bartleby's existentialism - I didn't get that the first time I read it. I also read Billy Budd looking for the homoeroticism, but even squinting really hard it is subtle, especially after reading the 'sperm' chapter in Moby Dick, or I...more
I had read Bartleby and Billy Budd before back on the boat but was struck this time by Bartleby's existentialism - I didn't get that the first time I read it. I also read Billy Budd looking for the homoeroticism, but even squinting really hard it is subtle, especially after reading the 'sperm' chapter in Moby Dick, or I...more
Melville always gets to me. I can only speak for myself, but the pages will start slowly and then build to an all-consuming fire. No, don't disturb me when I have Melville in my hands, for god's sake! Don't talk to me, don't touch me, don't breathe on the book. For when I am reading Melville, I am in the South Seas, and all I can hear are the disgorged waves against the flapping sails.
These are four short masterpieces, ones which I have re-read to get a better feel for the 19th century and the a...more
These are four short masterpieces, ones which I have re-read to get a better feel for the 19th century and the a...more
Having read this, the shorter novels of Herman Melville, I'd like to single out Billy Budd, Foretopman as my favorite. Billy's poetic last moments in the hold before his execution opened up Melville's under appreciated later works for me, and perhaps my appreciation of poetic verse.
Sep 09, 2011
Erik Graff
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everyone
Recommended to Erik by:
no one
Shelves:
literature
Having written negatively about his whale story, this is a plug for two of my favorite American novellas: Bartleby the Scrivener and Billy Budd, both of which I found very moving. Billy Budd, particularly, is excellent for maintaining its Christian subtext in a manner which caused me to reflect about naive goodness and how we regard it.
The Encantadas is much better as a dish in a touristy Mexican restaurant. Otherwise everything in here is O-kay with me and certainly worth reading.
Included: Benito Cereno; Billy Budd, the Foretopman; Bartleby, the Scrivner; The Encantadas or Enchanted
Jan 16, 2013
Eddy Allen
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction-and-westerns
Dec 31, 2012
Jake Gray
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
classics,
american-fiction
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Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. His first two books gained much attention, though they were not bestsellers, and his popularity declined precipitously only a few years later. By the time of his death he had been almost completely forgotten, but his longest novel, Moby-Dick — largely considered a failure during his lifetime, and most responsible for...more
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“He challenged the world with his genius, and the world defeated him by ignoring the challenge and starving him. He stopped writing because he had failed and because he had no choice but to accept the world’s terms: there is no mystery here. This was not insanity, but common sense.”
—
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