Bartleby, the scribe is one of the strangest narratives in the history of literature, and its protagonist one of the most eccentric specimens of the human race, whose lucid and relentless nihilism recalls Chinese theories about the ideal conduct of the emperor and the holy man. From the very moment of his birth, Herman Melville's account has spurred controversy and generated the intense interest that guarantees the immortality of a literary work: fascination. Bartleby, the scribe is now considered an unusual precursor to Kafka's best stories.
In The Bell Tower we witness the tragic end of a famous character, and in his plot is perceived the influence of his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne. The two temples actually consist of two texts: the first was censored in its day so as not to hurt the religious sensibility of readers; and the second, written in 1849 during a trip to Europe, describes London as a Babylonian city. Melville's ironic talent shines in The LightningMan against the abundant preachers who at the time lived to spread salvation before an imminent end of the world. The violinist, in short, has been interpreted as a symbolic elaboration of his destiny as a writer.