Bartleby, the Scrivener (BLKM)

Bartleby is employed as a scrivener (copyist) of legal documents. It is soon clear that he would "prefer not to" perform most, if not all, tasks assigned to him. His employer seems incapable of figuring out a method of getting Bartleby to do his work. As the empoyer-narrator says, "Nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance."

As with most programs in The Black Mass series, this is a reading of the short story, in slightly abbreviated form. The voices are excellent and the audio is extremely clear. The story itself ... well it's as frustrating to absorb as ever! And it may be more relevant today than it was even in 1853 when Melville penned it. The reader/listener will constantly ask him or herself why Bartleby isn't simply fired. Yes, that would seem logical. And yet those of us who have spent a significant time in the workforce have seen versions of this scenario enacted many times in real life.

The Black Mass #31
Bartleby, the Scrivener
14 September 1965
19650914(031)_BLKM_BartlebyTheScrivener.mp3
Herman Melville (author), Bernard Mayes (Bartleby), Erik Bauersfeld (adaptor, producer, Master of Chancery), Ben Jaquepetti (Nippers), Martin Ponch (Officer), John Whiting (technical production), Lou Harriso  (composer, performer), Douglas Leedy (composer, performer)

The cover of Putnam's from the month prior to the issue containing the first of the two installments of Bartleby. It's the best I could do. Putnam's used a standard cover, so November and December probably looked much the same.