Billy Budd and Other Stories (Penguin Classics)

Book Description

Melville's last work, Billy Budd, Sailor (written between 1888 and 1891), is considered by many to be his finest work. Also in this volume is Melville's Piazza Tales, among them "Bartleby the Scrivener," "Benito Cereno," and "The Encantadas."

Customer Reviews:

Masterpieces .......2005-10-31

There are two great masterpieces in this book, "Billy Budd" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener" ."Benito Cereno"is perhaps a third.
"Billy Budd" was Melville's last work of genius. It is a complex tale of Innocent and Evil, of the seemingly perfect and pure hero, Billy Budd, and his nemesis , the evil Claggart. In between and acting as judge but unable to prevent the tragedy is Captain Vere, the man of truth.
"Billy Budd" has always had me a certain enigmatic and troubling feeling. And despite sensing its greatness I have not identified with the work the way I always have with 'Bartleby the Scriver'.
In this tale the scribe who says "I prefer not to" and seems yet another variant of Lonely, Isolated , anomic Western Man( Dostoevsky's "The Underground Man" to Camus' "The Stranger) is at once infuriating, pathetic, and admirable. He is the American hero of Thoreau "hearing the sound of a different drummer". And yet he is the pathetic lonely figure similar to Gogol's Akaky Akakayevich in " The Overcoat".
His stubborness while driving us crazy, is somehow felt to be admirable , and a sign of his integrity. He somehow cannot be bought and co-opted.
Melville himself was too a lonely, lonely figure especially in the long years when he wrote no prose, worked in the New York harbor, and did not receive recognition for the masterpieces he had already written, including what most consider the greatest of all American Novels,"Moby Dick."

Calvinism.......2005-08-18

This collection of short stories gives a very fair view of Herman Melville's literary capacities as well as his vision of the world and humanity.

In Billy Budd (BB) the main character 'Adam before the Fall' is a victim of natural human depravity.
Bartleby's (B) perfectly harmless passivity is the personification of humanity's lost hopes.
In 'Benito Cereno' (BC) the black revolt is crushed by 'superior' whites.
'The Piazza' is a description of a fairyland inhabited only by 'like some Tahiti girl'.
In 'The Lighning-Rod Man' (LR) the author doesn't need a lightning conductor, because 'In thunder as in sunshine, I stand at ease in the hands of my God.'
In 'The Bell-Tower' (BT) the great mechanician, the unblest foundling Bannadonna, wants to become a new Prometheus, 'man, the true God'. He is killed by his own robot. The whole tower crashes in an earthquake.
'The Encantadas' are 'Apples of Sodom'.

Herman Melville's worldview is that of a true calvinist. His religion is the dominant theme in these stories: 'All is owing to Providence' (BC), also the alleged superiority of the white man. After the Fall, man became naturally depraved. More, 'civilization is auspicious to depravity, because the latter can fold itself in the mantle of respectability.' (BB)
Melville's anti-rational, anti-scientific and anti-progress stance is clearly exposed in the fate of Bannadonna and his realisations(BT).

So, why should we still read an outspoken 19th century conservative author? Because Calvinism poses the fundamental question of evil-'owing to Providence'. Melville is obsessed by evil. For him, it is an irrational 'mystery, a matter for psychologic theologians.' (BB)

Melville is a master in staging characters driven by 'pale ire, envy, despair' (BB) or 'pride' (BT). The deception in BC is formidably sketched; the indomitable reaction of the stuttering Billy Budd is a lightning blow and the suicidal behaviour of Bartleby is baffling.
These are the main reasons why some of his stories continue to be fascinating reads.

Don't listen to the first rating!!!!!.......2003-11-26

Billy Budd is NOT a story of "good versus evil"! If you read it and only get that out, you're an idiot. Furthermore, this was Melville's very last work and was not found until after his death; it is heralded as being just as well-written and compelling as "Moby Dick". The ship is a microcosm for our world, and each character represents different people/ideas. It is not a story of protagonist and antagonist. Melville was not concerned with Claggart or Budd, but rather Captain Veere. Heck, just read until the court martial scene; you'll see.

In closing: Forget the loon who told you this book was nonesense. He/she apparently has never READ the book for UNDERSTANDING.

PS: I'm a college sophomore majoring in English. I should know what I'm talking about. Toodles.

Billy's Not MY Buddy.......2003-04-05

If you are an English teacher who is looking for a good punishment for their students, I highly recommend that you assign them 'Billy Budd.'

Not only is this book extremly hard to understand, it's theme is also quite depressing... it's your basic everyday, good vs. evil, but in this book: Evil conquers all.

Save your time.. don't read this book....

Don't Get Lost In The Sea-Mists........2002-05-11

Though this fine collection contains the justly famous work, Billy Budd, and the amazing story of Bartleby, I would like to focus on Benito Cereno. This story is less well-known than these others, but it is equally great. And I want to focus on it also because I noticed a review here that stated that this story reveals that Melville was indifferent to the horror of slavery. It is difficult for me to read such a view without distress. This is not only not true, but nothing could be further from the truth. A more compassionate and profound commentary on slavery and on human blindness has never been written and never will be. Please consider my view of this story:
First of all consider the seeming irony of the title, Benito Cereno. In the story itself all the direct focus is on Captain Amasa Delano. He is seen here endlessly as the embodiment of large-minded nobility and generosity. He seems to be the real hero of the story, (just as Babo, the negro who master-minds the mutiny, seems to be a stereotypical villain). But the story is not called, Amasa Delano, it is called, Benito Cereno. Why? Because the ultimate subject here is what happens inside Benito Cereno. The surface focus on Delano is a distracting screen that Melville deliberately and carefully constructs. Melville allows this screen to distract us because the type of 'decency' that Delano represents in real life is exactly what allows people who consider themselves 'civilized' and basically 'good' to be blind and distracted from the real horror of slavery or any other evil. Please recall that Delano " took to negroes, not philanthropically, buy genially, just as other men to Newfoundland dogs." And consider the scene where Babo is shaving Captain Cereno. Delano thinks he is watching an agreeable but basically simple-minded negro doing a job that perfectly suits his one-dimensional, inferior being. And in reality we are watching a charade devised by Babo's brain, a "hive of subtlety" that has Delano fooled. When Delano notices that Babo has used the Spanish flag as a barber towell to cover Cereno, he comments on it in a forgiving, playful way and Babo laughs and plays the clown, but in fact it is a revelation of how painfully aware Babo really is. Delano can not quite see the truth about anything. All of his confusion and uncertainty throughout most of the story, and the vaporous mists of the sea-scape, are meant by Melville to be reflective of Delano's deeper blindness. Delano has one moment in the story where he almost sees reality and says, "Ah, this slavery breeds ugly passions in man...," but he slips back again into his smug blindness. And his certainty and cheerfulness at the end of the story are part of this blindness. No, he is not the hero of this story. The real hero is the feeling/consciousness that rises in the heart of Benito Cereno. Delano thinks, and the reader may think with him, that what afflicts and almost paralyzes Cereno through most of the story is that he is simply afraid that if he makes the wrong move then Delano will be killed. But this is only a fraction of what really afflicts Cereno. Cereno, through his experience with Babo, sees the truth about slavery and he can never be blind again. Look at the last part of the story: After the mutiny has been crushed and the negroes are brought to 'justice' and Delano is then out of danger Cereno is still buried in shadow and pain.
Why? Please read very carefully the last conversation between Delano and Cereno here. Cereno explains so movingly how Delano is blind, but Delano still does not see. Delano asks why he, Cereno, is so melancholy. Cereno answers simply,"The negro." At the trial Cereno refuses to identify Babo and faints when he is forced to look at him. Three months later Cereno dies of inner pain and darkness in a monastery. The monastery is on Mount Agonia. Agonia gives us the English word, agony, and in Greek in means a wrestling contest. Here the struggle is between tuth and falsehood. Crereno dies in the struggle, but he dies on the right side. This is why the story is called Benito Cereno.

Billy Budd & Other Stories (Wordsworth Classics) (Wordsworth Classics)

Average customer rating:

Billy Budd & Other Stories (Wordsworth Classics) (Wordsworth Classics)
Herman Melville
Manufacturer: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 185326749X

Product Description

Melville's short stories are masterpieces. The best are to be appreciated on more than one level and those presented here are rich with symbolism and spiritual depth. Set in 1797, Billy Budd, Foretopman exploits the tension of this period during the war between England and France to create a tale of satanic treachery, tragedy and great pathos that explores human relationships and the inherently ambiguous nature of man-made justice. Tales such as Bartleby, Benito Cereno, The Lightning Rod Man, The Tartarus of Maids or I and My Chimney, show the timeless poetic power of Melville's writing as he consciously uses the disguise of allegory in various ways and to various ends.

Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Benito Cereno, Bartleby the Scrivener, and Other Tales (Modern Critical Interpretations)

Average customer rating:

Office Without a View
Classic

Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Benito Cereno, Bartleby the Scrivener, and Other Tales (Modern Critical Interpretations)

Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Literary Criticism & Collections | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Teen Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 1555460097

Book Description

In Billy Budd, The Bell-Tower, and Bartleby the Scrivener, Herman Melville explores in miniature the themes of isolation and defeat found in his great novels. Among his best works, they respectively deal with the irony of tragedy, arrogance, and failing communication.

The title, Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Benito Careno, Bartleby the Scrivener, and Other Tales, part of Chelsea House Publishers' Modern Critical Interpretations series, presents the most important 20th-century criticism on Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Benito Careno, Bartleby the Scrivener, and Other Tales through extracts of critical essays by well-known literary critics. This collection of criticism also features a short biography on Herman Melville, a chronology of the author's life, and an introductory essay written by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University.

Customer Reviews:

Office Without a View.......2004-01-09

Melville's darkly curious novella about a mysterious new hire
who refuses to leave his place of employment--even when dismissed--is subtly compelling; the conflict is revealed
gradually in small, psychological increments. This story, which could just as well have been set in Victorian London, is related by an elderly narrator--a lawyer with two regular scriveners (legal copyists) and an office boy. But the addition of the inscrutable, pallid Bartleby creates a sensation in the small office. He quietly but simply refuses to do anything but copy documents, eventually disintegrating to not even that. Yet he will not leave; he "prefers not" to do anything but waste time and waste away. How can his decent, compassionate employer remove the unwanted fellow, without resorting to crass police intervention?

Melville's unchaptered tale is characterized by with long paragraphs and a rich tapestry of vocabulary. Less a mystery than one at first expects, the simple plot unfolds eventually to comment on the role of humanity. How easy it would be to assuage our collective conscience by institutionalizing the misfits. This may be the first literary example of Passive Resistance. With no clear cut villain in this seemingly actionless tale, readers are left in moral disquiet, yet this short work provides a glimpse into Melville's dark genius.

Classic.......2003-08-04

Herman Melville's "Bartleby" is undoubtedly one of the finest short stories known in the canon of Western literature. It is the story of a stubborn, yet ultimately passive scrivner (copyist) that despite his individuality has alienated himself from society. Melville contemplates whether a true individual can really function or even survive in society.

Book Description

3 1/2 inch diskette enclosed/IBM compatible

Customer Reviews:

Educational Book.......2007-05-13

Book took too long to arrive. Required reading for my daughter. MysticBleu

Sailors' Favorite Framed, Takes Rap.......2006-06-09

*BILLY BUDD, a classic tale by America's Herman Melville, was written 40 years after his burst of creative energy. Melville still possessed the feeling for a good story, but he wrote it in a language so ornate and (to our modern eyes) stilted, that one can hardly absorb it. Nevertheless, BILLY BUDD deals with a timeless human issue---the nature of justice. Billy, a handsome young sailor, has been impressed into the British Navy where he incurs the jealousy or instinctive dislike of an officer. Billy has done nothing to warrant his wrath and is highly popular among everyone. This officer, rather more intellectual than most, proves tenaciously vindictive. He endeavors to trap Billy in a mutinous plot, but Billy rejects the idea. At last the officer goes to the captain and accuses Billy of mutiny directly. The captain too likes Billy and cannot believe the accuser. He calls Billy, who in tense circumstances is apt to stutter or be tongue-tied. When presented with the officer's accusations, Billy cannot speak. He strikes the officer. The conclusion is swift and sad. I should not reveal the ending, but the question of "what is justice ?" lies at the center of it.

*Other Tales---these are neither very enjoyable nor easy to read except for BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER, an amusing story that might remind readers of one episode from "Sinbad the Sailor". Bartleby, a copyist or scrivener arrives at a lawyer's office and is hired. He seems to have no past, no present. We discover that he even lives at the office, never goes out. He gradually refuses to do all work, but will not leave the premises. How to get rid of him ? I could tell you the end, but in the immortal words of Bartleby himself, "I would prefer not to." This is a minor classic.

The difference between to be right and to be moral!.......2006-02-08

Billy Budd has never known a home beside the sea. Orphaned, and apparently un-cared for, even though he has a personal innocence, and beauty about him, he is at one with the sea.

In his innocence, he is unaware that his superior, Claggert, is also his nemesis, and one can only speculate why Claggert has such antipathy towards him.

Although there is nothing Captain Vere can do to save the poor boy, after Billy Budd unexpectedly lashes out at Claggert, we are waiting for something to happen to avoid the unfair morality of the story. While Vere has right in his decision to condemn Billy Budd, it is an immoral decision. Is what is right and what is moral it always the same thing? Not in this case, and perhaps that is Melville's point. Well meaning people can do what is right, can act in a manner that is correct, but isn't there a higher consideration. Why does there have to be a conflict with morality and correctness, with humanity and duty.

This short novel provides yet another addition to the literature in which to question right and wrong, good and evil. I think that this is an unanswerable question.

While the themes within this story and universal, and well presented, the language is nineteenth century. Parts of the narrative are difficult to get through, and many of the metaphors require a nineteenth century outlook. But the issues it raises are worth thinking about, and that certainly comes through, at least to me,

good and evil.......2005-10-27

Personally, I thought this was a great book. This book follows a man named Billy Budd through the end of his life spent in the English navy. Although this book had some boring parts, it was overall a great story line. I was impressed with story more than the writing, which ran a little longer than I thought it should have in some parts. However, the main story was very clever and presented a lot of great ideas.
The story was set in 1797 during one of Britain's wars with France. Most of the story takes place on a ship called the Indomitable. There had been a lot of mutinies in the British navy, and the ship is overall a tense place. To add to it the men find the quarters too crowded. Billy Budd starts out on a boat called the Rights of Man, a merchant ship, and is put into service on the Indomitable.
The story to me is about good versus evil. The whole book seems to be a major analogy of the simplest form. Billy is good. Claggart is bad, and Vere is reason. The major plot involves Billy killing Claggart in response to evil. Billy seems to be completely unaware of badness. After being offended by Claggart, Billy punches him and accidentally kills him. Then a court is set up to determine Billy's punishment.
The characters have very obvious symbolism to the struggle of good and evil. When Billy joins the Indomitable he is about 20, handsome, kind, and basically personified innocence. Claggart is an older man who moved up in rank mainly because he could please people, but is clearly evil. I think that this is genius. Even in my life I can think of people who get ahead in life simply through attitude, which I find to be a horrible representation of a man. I believe men should be judged more on their values, or set of morals, which determine all of his endeavors. Even in schools the straight A students are not always the people who are most able to do jobs. However I use this more as an analogy than an example because this story deals mainly with good and evil. Finally, there is Captain Vere. He is an older man, who is implied to be intelligent although not directly show to be. He loves to read, and is a conserved man who is seen as fair, and well liked among the sailors. To me he doesn't represent a person. I see Vere as the challenge of judgment. He is a man given all the information, a just fairness, and intelligence. I find that even though not all people come off as having equal intelligence, it's more of a language barrier. Until you get to know someone its like looking at the surface of an ocean. When it comes to their ideas you can only see the tip of the iceberg, and it's impossible to tell for sure how deep those thoughts go, even if you think you have an idea. I think that most people have this reason and understanding, under the surface, that is represented by Vere. I must say that some people wouldn't like this book because they might find it stupid or boring, but the principles that are suggested by this book are real and true to today. So, even if you don't appreciate the style of the author, anyone who takes time to consider the idea of this story must find themselves lost in thought; riding on a train of thought that only great ideas can take you aboard, staring out the window with amazement.
The story itself beautifully illustrates this idea of the forces of good and evil in life. The men on the ship are like followers. Some of them follow Claggart, trying their best to please him, but the majority look up to Billy for his purity, and respect Vere for his fairness. The idea of mutiny is brought to Billy by one of his fellow seamen. Billy of course has no desire to partake in it, and is outraged by the idea. However, later, when the ship leaves the main fleet, Claggart tells Vere that he has heard of a mutiny developing. Vere who seems to admire Billy for his innocence and good heart, finds the claim ridiculous. It's never made clear why Claggart dislikes Billy, but I think that this is one of the key points of the book, that evil exists without instigation. Vere, determined to settle the dispute, brings both of them into his office one night, and tells them both the situation. Billy, who has no understanding of evil, is so offended by this accusation that in defense he out lashes and punches Claggart, killing him. Vere, a man of justice calls together a court for Billy's punishment. If you don't want to know the ending, skip the rest of this paragraph. In sight of fairness Billy is sentenced to a hanging. Also, later Vere dies in a fight with the ship Atheist. So, in the end evil is all that's left it seems. I don't think that this means that evil conquers goodness and fairness. I think it simply shows that goodness is rare, and fairness can be taken by evil, as with Billy's death and Vere's death. I think the reason evil is left at the end of this book is because evil will always exist.
Overall, this book was definitely a classic. I found the story interesting, and quite well written, but had it been poorly written, the concept of the book was enough to make this book well worth the reading. The book seemed boring to me at first, but the whole picture is needed to appreciate this work of art. I would recommend this book to anyone with an open mind.

Natural depravity.......2005-08-17

The inmates of the 'Indomitable', the name of the ship, which is the centre stage of the evolving drama, have indomitable reactions.
Innocence as well as antipathies are 'spontaneous and profound'. Man is irrational. He is governed by the heart, not the brain, but the heart can be innocent or evil:
'though the man's even temper and discreet bearing seem to intimate a mind peculiarly subject to the law of reason, not the less in his heart he would seem to riot in complete exemption from the law, having apparently little to do with reason further than to employ it as an ambidexter implement for effecting the irrational. These men are true madmen.'
More, civilization is auspicious to natural depravity. It folds itself in the mantle of respectability.

The innocent Billy Budd (Adam before the Fall) is a victim of profound iniquity (pale ire, envy, despair) and his reaction is indomitable.
Starry Vere (fron the Latin 'Verus'), the captain of the ship, agrees that iniquity is a mystery, a matter for psychologic theologians, but for a military court only the prisoner's deed must be taken into account.

Herman Melville, as a true calvinist, is obsessed by the existence of evil. He wrote a profound and dramatic masterpiece.

New Essays on Billy Budd (The American Novel)

Average customer rating:

New Essays on Billy Budd (The American Novel)
Donald Yamella
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

Billy Budd is Herman Melville's most popular work after Moby-Dick. Melville wrote the novella during the five years before his death, and it was published posthumously in 1924. The essays collected here provide a multifaceted introduction to this major American work.

Download Description

Billy Budd is Herman Melville's most read work after Moby-Dick. Melville wrote the novella during the 5 years before his death, and it was published posthumously in 1924. The essays collected here provide a multifaceted introduction to the work. Areas investigated include nineteenth-century political and social dynamics and the literary response they provoked, as well as the relevance of mythology and the histories of classical world and Judaeo-Christian civilization to Melville's book. Also examined are Melville's later writing, including the late poetry, the text's development, and its ambiguities. This collection will prove an invaluable resource for students of this major American writer.

Average customer rating:

BILLY BUDD AND OTHER STORIES
Herman Melville
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Average customer rating:

BILLY BUDD AND OTHER STORIES

Manufacturer: Wordsworth
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Billy Budd and Other Stories (The Chiltern Library)

Average customer rating:

Billy Budd and Other Stories (The Chiltern Library)
Herman Melville
Manufacturer: John Lehmann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VJD0AW

Billy Budd and Other Stories: Bartleby;the Piazza;the Encantadas;the Bell-Tower;Benito Cereno;the Paradise of Bachelors & the Tartarus of Maids; Billy Budd,Sailor

Average customer rating:

Billy Budd and Other Stories: Bartleby;the Piazza;the Encantadas;the Bell-Tower;Benito Cereno;the Paradise of Bachelors & the Tartarus of Maids; Billy Budd,Sailor
Herman; Busch, Frederick Melville
Manufacturer: Penguin Books Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 0333914414

Download Description

IN THE year 1799, Captain Amasa Delano, of Duxbury, in Massachusetts, commanding a large sealer and general trader, lay at anchor, with a valuable cargo, in the harbour of St. Maria- a small, desert, uninhabited island towards the southern extremity of the long coast of Chili. There he had touched for water... Please Note: This book is easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher. The Microsoft eBook has a contents page linked to the chapter headings for easy navigation. The Adobe eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable up to two full copies per year. Both versions are text searchable.

Average customer rating:

Billy Budd Sailor & Other Stories
Herman Melville
Manufacturer: PENGUIN PUTNAM * TRADE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books