ABSTRACT

PERHAPS MELVILLE’S MOST SUCCESSFUL ANTI-TRANSCENDENTAL STORY is “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” first published in Putnam’s Monthly Magazine for November and December 1853.1 The story ridicules total self-reliance in the character of an inactive office worker. Bartleby’s humorously pathetic assertion of independence-his constant refrain is “I would prefer not to”—amounts to a complete withdrawal from the routines of living. In contrast, in “The American Scholar” Emerson advocated a life of action for the self-reliant scholar, who also is influenced by nature and books. “The one thing of value,” Emerson said, “is the active soul.”2 Even Thoreau, who withdrew from all social routines at Walden Pond, studied nature, read the classics, and hoed beans. In addition to the apparent satire, Melville may have designed this story at least in part as a self-portrait. Like Bartleby, who had worked in the Dead Letter Office, Melville also withdrew into himself, embittered by his apparent failure as an author.