Bartleby, The Scrivener

Herman Melville wrote Bartleby the Scrivener as an emotional response to the fact that his masterpiece Moby-Dick was not selling as well as he had expected. It was first published in the 1850s. Bartleby the Scrivener is now among the most notable of American short stories. It has been considered a precursor of absurdist literature, touching on several of Kafka's themes. The story has been adapted for film three times: in 1970, starring Paul Scofield; in France, in 1976, starring Michel Lonsdale; and in 2001, starring Crispin Glover.