Subtext: Conversations about Classic Books and Films Dead Wall Reveries in Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener”
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Sep 13, 2021 Explore the intriguing landscape of Melville's Bartleby, where the walls of Wall Street confine both work and identity. Delve into the tension between originality and imitation as Bartleby’s passive rebellion unfolds. The hosts analyze the paradox of an office filled with mechanical copyists, examining how silence dominates amid the city's chaos. They ponder whether personal choices or compulsion drive Bartleby's famous refusals, and what his blank wall gazes reveal about fate, freedom, and the human spirit.
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Dead Wall As Projection Screen
- Melville's subtitle “A Story of Wall Street” contrasts with the story's silence and interior walls, making the office a projection screen for reverie.
- The empty walls frame Bartleby as a rebel against imitation and derivative work.
Teaching Slip: Students Miss The Subtitle
- Erin O’Luanaigh recounts teaching Bartleby to 10th graders and quizzing them on the subtitle and setting.
- Students routinely missed that the story is set on Wall Street, revealing modern readers' focus on character over context.
Daytime Bustle, Nighttime Void
- Wall Street in the story is alive by day and eerily empty at night and Sundays, emphasizing zoning and social rhythms.
- That emptiness lets Bartleby inhabit the office like a bedroom intruding on business space.
