The Piazza Tales

Resumen del libro

This volume, first published in 1856, collects three of Melville's most important pieces of prose fiction. In Bartleby, the Scrivener', a Wall Street lawyer hires a melancholy young clerk called Bartleby, whose sudden and mysterious refusal to work plunges the firm into disarray. Benito Cereno' is a historical account of a mutiny on a slave ship, which has been seen as a critique of slavery and contemporary attitudes towards race.

The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles' is a series of travel sketches about the Galapagos Islands which was a huge success with the reading public and contains some of Melville's most celebrated prose. Also included in this volume are The Lightning-Rod Man', The Bell Tower' and a story written especially for the collection, The Piazza'. Taken together, these tales, in their masterful use of irony and concision, show the author of Moby Dick in a different light.

Biografía del autor

Herman Melville nació en Nueva York en 1819. Acuciado por la temprana muerte de su padre y la situación de su familia, desempeñó diversos oficios, entre ellos el de maestro y el de marinero a bordo de varios barcos por el Atlántico, el Pacífico y los mares del Sur. Finalmente se estableció en tierra firme en 1847. Acabó sus días en 1891 sumido en el olvido y en la precariedad económica.