Andrew Delbanco on How I Teach This Text

It was Bartleby. After a few words touching his qualifications, I en- gaged him, glad to have among my corps of copyists a man ...

The tale presents a legal scrivener who exhibits an unusual form of passive resistance, famously responding to requests with the phrase I would prefer not to. ...

Bartleby sat in his hermitage, oblivious to every thing but his own peculiar business there. Some days passed, the scrivener being employed upon another ...

He overheard those final words of Bartleby. Prefer not, eh? gritted Nippers--I'd prefer him, if I were you, sir, addressing me--I'd prefer him; I'd ...

The narrator of the story is an unnamed lawyer with offices on Wall Street in New York City. He describes himself as doing a snug business among rich men's ...

He overheard those final words of Bartleby. “Prefer not, eh?” gritted Nippers—I'd prefer him, if I were you, sir,” address- ing me—I'd prefer him; I'd ...

A lawyer takes on a new employee but fails to check the references. The original role model for slackers everywhere.

He overheard those final words of Bartleby. Prefer not, eh? gritted Nippers-“I'd prefer him, if I were you, sir, addressing me-I'd prefer him; I'd give ...

But I waive the biographies of all other scriveners for a few passages in the life of Bartleby, who was a scrivener of the strangest I ever saw or heard of.

The story of Bartleby is simple but deeply perplexing. A lawyer who runs a small firm on Wall Street in Manhattan hires a new copyist, a quiet man named ...