ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates how Bartleby's occupation of the physical chambers of the Law is no act of mere disobedience in the workplace. Bartleby's occupation of the lawyer's chambers in the heart of Wall Street transcends the spatial coordinates of the office to overlap into the sphere of power and politics. The lawyer and Bartleby employ different strategies to occupy and dis-occupy the physical grounds of the Law. Unlike the man from the country in Kafka's story, Bartleby's stationary gesture has a destabilizing force premised on its overlapping of spatial and ideological elements. Bartleby's actions represent a reversal of the formula, insomuch as their revolutionary nature comes as mere potentiality, never substantiated beyond the interruption of spatial practices. Bartleby's actions open up the unidirectionality of power and space and allow for multidirectional vectors that escape the lawyer's control. The character of Bartleby has traditionally been considered a Messianic figure.
