After the public failure of Moby-Dick, Herman Melville turned inward and sideways. These seven stories — from the claustrophobic silence of a Wall Street office to the volcanic stillness of the Galapagos Islands, from a salesman hawking lightning rods door-to-door to a bellmaker who mistakes craft for divinity — are brief but heavy as anchors.
Each piece places a human figure against an institution, a landscape, or an irresistible machine — and lets the situation speak its uneasy truth. What is the cost of industriousness, contentment, or withdrawal when the world counts lives by their usefulness?
This edition is designed for readers who have always meant to read Melville. One story per day, seven days. Each story opens with an editorial introduction, closes with guided discussion questions, and is supported by a biographical sketch and annotated bibliography. You don’t need a literature degree. You need a week.
Includes: Bartleby, the Scrivener • The Lightning-Rod Man • Cock-A-Doodle-Doo! • The Encantadas • The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids • The Bell-Tower • The Fiddler
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