![]() ![]() The Accessible Melville, poet of the inaccessible ![]() The Piazza Tales (1856) comprises six short stories, including the perpetually popular “Benito Cereno” and “Bartleby,” a tale of a scrivener who repeatedly distills his mordant criticism of the workplace into the deceptively simple phrase “I would prefer not to.” Although typically ambiguous, Billy Budd is seen by many as a testament to Melville’s ultimate reconciliation with the incongruities and injustices of life. Unable to defend himself due to a stammer, he is hanged, going willingly to his fate. This complex short novel tells the story of “the handsome sailor” Billy who, provoked by a false charge, accidentally kills the satanic master-at-arms. Published posthumously in 1924, Billy Budd is a masterpiece second only to Melville’s Moby-Dick. In Billy Budd and The Piazza Tales, Melville reveals an uncanny awareness of the inscrutable nature of reality. Largely neglected in his own lifetime, Herman Melville mastered not only the great American novel but also the short story and novella forms. ![]()
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