Herman Melville
1) Bartleby
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Deutsch
Description
Der junge Aktenkopist Bartleby fällt in der neuen Anwaltskanzlei bald durch seine Schweigsamkeit, ungeheure Arbeitswut und große Gewissenhaftigkeit auf. Dass er Korrekturlesen und Botengänge "lieber nicht machen" möchte, stößt zwar auf Unverständnis, wird jedoch toleriert. Als er eines Tages ankündigt, das Kopieren von Akten für immer aufgeben zu wollen, soll er die Kanzlei verlassen. Doch auch das möchte er "lieber nicht"...
2) The Piazza
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English
Description
Written as an introductory story to The Piazza Tales, the protagonist of The Piazza, idealizes a radiant spot on the mountain he looks upon from his piazza. Traveling to the spot he realizes it is a house, occupied by the unhappy girl Marianna, who longs to see the lucky individual who lives in the white house she looks upon from her window. The narrator realizes he has been the object of a fantasy alike to his own, and leaves thinking how all idealism...
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English
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Chosen for inclusion in William Evans Burton's Cyclopediae of Wit and Humor of 1857, with an illustration by Henry Louis Stephens, The Lightning-Rod Man was the one Melville tale to be available throughout his lifetime, thanks to reissues of this volume. More a parable than a character-driven story, The Lightning-rod man is a charlatan who tries to profit by selling fearful people lightning-rods during thunderstorms. The narrator has a difficult encounter...
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English
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Considered to be the least characteristic of Melville's stories, somewhat resembling the work of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe, The Bell-Tower is a dark literary work that explores, though never fully reveals, its central mystery. An eccentric artist and architect dreams up plans for a magnificent bell tower. After receiving approval from the city, he happily begins construction. When city residents begin to notice strange occurrences associated...
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English
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Two Tales From Herman Melville includes "The Lightning-Rod Man" and "The Bell-Tower." After spending the summer of 1853 in the Berkshire Mountains, where he supposedly had a real life encounter with a lightning-rod salesman, Melville published "The Lightning-Rod Man." At the end of this short story, the lightning-rod salesman is exposed for the fraud that he is. However, that will not keep his successors from fanning out to the Middle West, where...
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When Ishmael joined the crew of a whaling ship called the Pequod, he was eager for a life of adventure on the high seas. But he didn't know that what he was about to embark on would be the adventure of a lifetime. With Captain Ahab at the helm, Ishmael and his crewmates quickly learned that they weren't simply hunting whales. They were on a quest for the biggest catch there ever was: the great white whale of legend, Moby Dick.
7) Moby Dick
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Language
English
Description
When Ishmael joined the crew of a whaling ship called the Pequod, he was eager for a life of adventure on the high seas. But he didn't know that what he was about to embark on would be the adventure of a lifetime. With Captain Ahab at the helm, Ishmael and his crewmates quickly learned that they weren't simply hunting whales. They were on a quest for the biggest catch there ever was: the great white whale of legend, Moby Dick.