Compare and Contrast, Bartleby, The Scrivener; book and movie
INTRODUCTION
A picture is worth a thousand words, that’s the common theme that is increasingly true in our world today. Many movie adaptations of great classic stories and literature works have been created with great visuals. Question is, do the adaptations really carry the same meaning and weight of the original written works or are the adaptions meant to open new perspectives for the audiences? This paper will, through the examining the settings, character, tone and storylines, compare and contrast the book version and movie adaptation of the classic short story " Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street " by Herman Melville.
Herman Melville is regarded as one of the most influential authors of the 20th century; He authored great literary works such as “Moby Dick” which is considered his masterpiece. However before his work was commonly recognized Herman Melville was in a period of deep isolation from his readers and peers 1850 – 1891 (Nash 109), during this period in his writing career his writing focused more on the conditions of humanity instead of popular fictions, basically his works were becoming too philosophically distant for the readers and critics at the time. The short story "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" was written during this period (Mordecai 366). Many people and critics have, through the decades, engaged in many literary explorations of the story. Many interpretations of his work exist in the literature community. One such movie adaptation of the story is now called simply `Bartleby'.
SETTINGS
The physical setting of the story between the book and movie versions are different. In the book version the physical setting was in an law office on Wall Street in New York City, and Wall Street at the time when the story was written was where the capitalist ideals was best exemplified by show of big companies starting to dominate the national economy. In the movie version the physical setting was in a city
A picture is worth a thousand words, that’s the common theme that is increasingly true in our world today. Many movie adaptations of great classic stories and literature works have been created with great visuals. Question is, do the adaptations really carry the same meaning and weight of the original written works or are the adaptions meant to open new perspectives for the audiences? This paper will, through the examining the settings, character, tone and storylines, compare and contrast the book version and movie adaptation of the classic short story " Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street " by Herman Melville.
Herman Melville is regarded as one of the most influential authors of the 20th century; He authored great literary works such as “Moby Dick” which is considered his masterpiece. However before his work was commonly recognized Herman Melville was in a period of deep isolation from his readers and peers 1850 – 1891 (Nash 109), during this period in his writing career his writing focused more on the conditions of humanity instead of popular fictions, basically his works were becoming too philosophically distant for the readers and critics at the time. The short story "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" was written during this period (Mordecai 366). Many people and critics have, through the decades, engaged in many literary explorations of the story. Many interpretations of his work exist in the literature community. One such movie adaptation of the story is now called simply `Bartleby'.
SETTINGS
The physical setting of the story between the book and movie versions are different. In the book version the physical setting was in an law office on Wall Street in New York City, and Wall Street at the time when the story was written was where the capitalist ideals was best exemplified by show of big companies starting to dominate the national economy. In the movie version the physical setting was in a city
Cited: Nash, Charles C. "Herman Melville: A Biography; Vol. 2, 1851-1891." Library Journal 127.6 (2002): 109. ProQuest. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. Mordecai, Marcus. “Melville 's Bartleby as a Psychological, Double” College English Vol. 23, No. 5 (1962): 366. JSTOR Web. 26 Jan. 2014 Bigelow, Gordon E. "The Problem Of Symbolist Form In Melville 's "Bartleby The Scrivener.." Modern Language Quarterly 31.3 (1970): 354. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Jan. 2014. Melville, Herman. "Bartleby, the Scrivener" The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2012. 121-146. Print