Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Benito Cereno, Bartleby the Scrivener & Other Tales

by Harold Bloom

A collection of seven critical essays on Herman Melville's shorter works of fiction including Billy Budd, Benito Cereno, Bartleby the Scrivener, The Bell-Tower and The Piazza Tales.

Each Modern Critical Interpretations volume opens with an introductory essay and editor's note by Harold Bloom and includes a bibliography, a chronology of the author's life and works, and notes on the contributors. Taken together, Modern Critical Interpretations provides a comprehensive critical guide to the most vital and influential works of the Western literary tradition.

Genres: Literary Criticism, American, Short Stories, Fiction

165 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Harold Bloom was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world." After publishing his first book in 1959, Bloom wrote more than 50 books, including over 40 books of literary criticism, several books discussing religion, and one novel. He edited hundreds of anthologies concerning numerous literary and philosophical figures for the Chelsea House publishing firm. Bloom's books have been translated into more than 40 languages. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1995.
Bloom was a defender of the traditional Western canon at a time when literature departments were focusing on what he derided as the "school of resentment" (multiculturalists, feminists, Marxists, and others). He was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University.

Reviews

[Maher Ashraf · Rating 3 out of 5]

رواية قصيرة ممكن نسميها رواية الليلة الواحدة، تظهر شعور الانسانية المكبوت حينما يمر الانسان بمعرفة اشياء لا تصل ولن تصل ويشاء القدر ان يكون عمله يختص على رسائل تُكتب ولم تصل من موتى فهذا هو الشعور الغريب ، انك تأخذ جرعات هائله من العذاب والاماني واحلام ومعاناة الآخرين وفي الاخير تأخذ جُل هذه الجرعات وحدك ، اعتقد بإنك تصبح شخصا آخر، عجيب، غريب الاطوار وهذا ما وصل إليه بطل هذه القصة بارتلبي المسكين الذي يُدعى (النساخ)

[nives ☀️ · Rating 1 out of 5]

è PESANTE molto molto PESANTE

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't care for "Paradise of Bachelors/Tartarus of Maids" at all. Too descriptive with no plot. If I was his editor, I would have sent Meville back to a rewrite on that one. However, "Benito Cereno" was great! My reading responses were like the ebb and flow of the ocean, following in the wake of Captain Delano's suspicions. Fantastically slow build up in which I had figured out the truth and yet had to follow along with Delano's slow grasp. The shaving scene provides a microcosm of the entire story. Well worth the read!

[mwr]

Not quite the right edition, but the three titular stories were in the collection and all my pre-30's are approximations so I'll just use it.

[Nathan]

Ranking in order of preference: Benito Cereno, Billy Budd, Bartleby.