Bartleby the Scrivener is the most popular and widely analyzed of Herman Melville’s short fiction. The story, set in a law office on Wall Street, is told by an elderly lawyer who employs two copyists, or ‘scriveners’. Their job is to copy out legal documents by hand. When the lawyer decides he needs a third scrivener, he hires Bartleby, mainly because he thinks his calm demeanor will provide a good example for the other two, whose eccentric personalities were creating havoc in the workplace. However, Bartleby soon proves to be the worst workplace model ever when he refuses to do any of the work the lawyer assigns him. And so it goes, on and on and far beyond, in what is one of the most mysterious and thought-provoking stories ever written.

Although Bartleby earns great distinction as a mysterious character that most readers ponder endlessly about, the elderly lawyer who narrates the story is arguably the main character and subject of the story. He exhibits many exemplary human qualities in his relationships with his employees, never for long letting his frustration and befuddlement with them (but especially with Bartleby) overrule his patience and compassion. Whereas Bartleby utterly failed to be the model employee the lawyer desired, the lawyer turns out to be a model boss that any real-life manager should want to emulate.

By most accounts, Melville set the the story on Wall Street for a personal reason. Although he began his career as a highly successful author of sea-stories, sales of his new books plumetted just as his creativity began to ascend to the highest possible level. Herman Melville preferred to write experimental and challenging fiction while business-minded publishers (likely represented in Bartleby the Scrivener by ‘Wall Street’) wanted him to continue producing more formulaic works that would sell copies and make them the unmerited money they expected. Bucking moneyed interests is always difficult, as it certainly proved to be for Melville, foundering as he did for the rest of his life, and as it also did for his character Bartleby, though being endowed by Melville as he was with such a calm reserve, bucking authority didn’t seem to be difficult for Bartleby at all.

Our adaptation of this great story by Herman Melville is illustrated by David Witt of St. Paul, Minnesota. He has a great body of work to his credit, from graphic novels, to video games, rock music album covers, rock ‘n roll gigposters, and more. You can learn more about David and his successful career as an artist on his instagram page-https://www.instagram.com/dwitt75/