I’ve never read anything by Herman Melville – I know I should have read Moby Dick by now, but it has never sounded appealing to me – so when I spotted this new collection of Melville short stories from Pushkin Press it seemed a good opportunity to experience some of his work without having to commit to a 600+ page novel.
I Would Prefer Not To contains four stories, although the final one takes up more than half the book and is probably better described as a novella. My favourite was the first story, Bartleby the Scrivener, which was first published in Putnam’s Magazine in 1853. The narrator is an elderly Wall Street lawyer who employs two clerks, or ‘scriveners’ – Turkey and Nippers – whose job is to make copies of legal documents, and one office boy, Ginger Nut. An increase in work leads the lawyer to look for a third scrivener and, as he has been having difficulties with the temperamental natures of the other two, he decides to hire Bartleby, a quiet man whom he hopes will be a good influence on the others.
At first Bartleby works hard at his copying, but when the lawyer asks him to proofread a copied document, he replies with, “I would prefer not to”. Over the following days, he refuses to do more and more of the tasks that are requested of him – never giving an angry or rude response; always just those same five words: “I would prefer not to”. As the lawyer decides how to deal with this unexpected problem, the reader wonders what is wrong with Bartleby and what has caused his unusual behaviour. I enjoyed the story, but it left me very confused and I didn’t really understand what Melville was trying to say. However, after turning to Google for help, it seems that the meaning of the story was deliberately ambiguous and it can be interpreted in many ways, which made me feel a lot better about not understanding it!
Next is The Lightning-Rod Man, a short and intriguing tale of a salesman who arrives at the narrator’s house in Albania during a thunderstorm and tries to sell him a lightning-rod. The narrator is sceptical and says he will trust God to keep him safe, but the salesman won’t take no for an answer. Again, the meaning is not immediately obvious, but it’s an entertaining story and reminded me of Edgar Allan Poe. The third story, John Marr, is the weakest in the book, in my opinion. The title character is a retired sailor trying to adjust to a life on land, in a remote community on the American prairies. Feeling isolated and out of place, he remembers his seafaring days through songs and poems. The piece included in this collection is taken from John Marr and Other Sailors, a volume of poetry published in 1888, so maybe it would have worked better if read in the context of the original book.
Finally, we have the novella Benito Cereno, in which an American sea captain sailing off the coast of Chile encounters a Spanish slave ship in distress. Boarding the ship to see if he can help, he meets the Spanish captain, Benito Cereno, who tells him how the ship came to be in trouble. As he observes the behaviour of Benito Cereno and his slaves, he begins to wonder whether there is more to this than meets the eye. This was another interesting story, but I felt that it was much too long and too easy to guess the twist; we see things only through the eyes of the narrator, who is frustratingly oblivious to what is really happening on the Spanish ship. It was also another difficult one to interpret: was it a racist, pro-slavery story or an anti-racist, anti-slavery story? It could be either and it can’t be assumed that the views of the narrator reflect the views of the author.
So, now that I’ve had my introduction to Herman Melville, will I be reading Moby Dick? At the moment I think I would prefer not to, but maybe I’ll be ready to tackle it one day in the future!
Thanks to Pushkin Press for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.
She Reads Novels 
I’ve only read Bartleby, which I loved, so was interested to read about this collection. May have to explore Melville a bit more, though I’m not sure if Moby Dick is for me!
Bartleby is a great story. The others in this collection weren’t as impressive, but still worth reading and a good alternative to Moby Dick!
I wonder… maybe Bartleby is available on its own… I like the sound of it. (And I’ve never read anything by him.)
I’ve never read any Melville either. I *have* a copy of Moby Dick but there’s just something putting me off starting it… [muses]
BTW – the novella Benito Cereno is based on a real (and honestly fascinating) story detailed in ‘The Empire of Necessity – The Untold History of a Slave Rebellion in the Age of Liberty’ by Greg Grandin, which is definitely worth a read if you’re in to that kind of thing.
I didn’t know that about Benito Cereno. That’s interesting – thanks!
I’m the same, Moby Dick has never appealed but I think I should experience some of Melville’s writing, so I think this is my way in – thank you!
I think this is a good introduction to Melville’s work and much more accessible than Moby Dick!
I would prefer not to, too! I HAVE read Moby Dick, and talk about using too many words! I also tried to read Billy Budd and then gave up Melville forever.
These short stories were very wordy too. I don’t think I could cope with Melville’s writing style in a longer book!
He is definitely wordy. And Ahab’s ranting was something I could not stand. But most of all, I didn’t like the little essays about pieces of rope and things like that.
I see what you did there
I hoped someone would! 🙂
Moby Dick has never appealed to me either. And I’m okay with never reading it. ;D
Maybe I’ll try it one day, but for now I’m okay with not reading it too!
I have read Moby Dick but it was a slog, I liked the beginning and end, shame about the very thick middle!
That’s a shame – at least some of it was good!
Don’t read Moby Dick – life is too short and there are too many good books out there! The old film version is brilliant though! 😉
I certainly don’t have any plans to read it in the near future! I’ll try to see the film instead.