Sources and Analogues

List of Items and the Commentary on Them

Below are listed

1. References in the text which have led scholars to examine Melville's likely sources for them.

2. Other works by Melville seen by critics as, in various ways, analogous to "Bartleby, the Scrivener."

3. Particular texts and people, all judged, by various expert readers, to be sources for and/or analogues to "Bartleby."

Following each entry are the names of authors of significant articles or chapters on that subject, and, sometimes, the sources themselves. Some of these texts, primary and secondary, are part of this "Bartleby" site. All the critics and scholars mentioned are in the bibliography; Clicking on one of those items will take you to the bibliography with its full citation. If the text itself is available here on this site, you can click again to go directly to it. Texts of some sources and analogues themselves may be reached directly by clicking on those items in the list below.

The best single work on this subject is Lea Bertani Vozar Newman, A Reader's Guide to the Short Stories of Herman Melville. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1986. It cites, with brief comment, the most significant scholarship and criticism--but only through 1985.

1. References in the Text:

John Jacob Astor: D'Avanzo ("Astor"), Oliver ("Introduction").
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The Bible: W. Anderson, Brodwin, Fiene ("The Christ"), Franklin (Wake 127) and (Victim 58-5), W. B. Stein. 

"With kings and counsellors": Wright (Bible 39), M. Friedman ("Modern Exile"), Dillingham, Brodwin, Billy.
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"A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another": Commented on by many.
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"Turned into a pillar of salt": Brodwin.
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Cicero: Dillingham, Emery, Singleton.
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Colt and Adams: Dillingham, Giddings, L. Howard (Biography), Oliver ("Introduction").
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Dead Letters: Cohen ("Dead Letter"), T. Mitchell, Monteiro ("Quicksand"), Parker ("Dead Letters," "Sequel," "Satire"), Robillard ("Dead Letter").

        Pittsfield Sun, 3/6/1851.

        "The Dead Letters--A Vision," The Carpet Bag, 11/29/ 1851.

Albany Daily State Register 9/23/1852 (rpt. NY Daily Times 9/24/1852, and Washington National Intelligencer 10/9/1852).
"Timothy Quicksand," New England Magazine 1 (1831), 505-511. 

[Jonathan] Edwards, A Careful and Strict Enquiry into the Modern Prevailing Notions of that Freedom of Will. . . . : Emery, Leyda (Stories xxiv), Patrick (also on Priestley).

"Marius brooding among the ruins of Carthage": Brodwin, Dillingham.
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Monroe Edwards: Dillingham, Robillard ("Monroe Edwards").
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Petra: Oliver ("Introduction"), J. C. Wilson ("Petra").
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[Joseph] Priestley, The Philosophical Doctrine of Necessity: Patrick (also on Edwards), Emery.

2. Other Works by Melville:

Pierre: Billy, Brodwin, Craver and Plante, Eliot, Fisher (Going Under), Fogle (Shorter Tales), J. Gross, L. Howard ("Stories"), Marx, Mason, Oliver ("Introduction"), Parker ("'Sequel'"), Pops, Rogin, Schechter, Stout, Wells. 

Moby-Dick: Abcarian, Berthoff (Example), Chase (Study), M. Friedman (Rebel), Hillway, L. Howard ("Stories"), Humphreys, Hyman, R. W. B. Lewis, Leyda (Portable), Marcus, Marx, Morsberger, Pops, Sealts (Resources), A. Stein, G. Stone, Watters, Wright (Bible), and others to varying degrees. 

Other Melville Short Stories and Poems: Berthoff (Works and Example), Bickley (Method), Brodwin, Browne (Humanism), Campbell, Charvat, Chase (Study), Deane, Dillingham, Donaldson, Douglas, Fisher, Fogle (Shorter Tales), Hagopian, Hansen, L. Howard (Biography), Hyman, Kaplan, K. F. Knight, Knox, Lacy, J. Lewis, R. W. B. Lewis, Leyda (Portable), Mason, J. Miller (Reader's Guide), C. Mitchell, Morsberger, Moss, Parker ("'Sequel'"), Sealts (Resources and "Historical Note" 483 in Piazza Tales), Thomas, Watson, Widmer (Nihilism), Wright (Bible), and others. 

Melville's "Agatha" Letters: Hayford ("Agatha"), Hoffmann.

3. Other Texts and People:

George J. Adler (philosophy professor and friend of HM): L. Howard (Biography), E. Miller.

Buddhism: Yamaya. 

Robert Burton (17th-century British author): Wright ("Burton"), Mathews. 

Thomas Carlyle (19th-century British author): D'Avanzo ("Carlyle"). 

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote: F. Abrams. 

Thomas Chatterton (18th-century British poet): Harmon.

Charles Dickens: Berthoff (Works), Boston Evening Traveller 3 June 1856, Fogle (Shorter Tales), O'Connor, Rosenberry.

"Christmas Carol": Solomon.
Pickwick Papers: Vann.
Bleak House: Mendez, Jaffé, Fleissner.
Hard Times: Fleissner. 
Emily Dickinson, "Faith is a Fine Invention," #185. 

Isaac D'Israeli (18th-19th century British essayist, novelist, historian): Tuerck. 

Evert Duyckinck (friend of HM, publisher): Wells. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson:

        "The Transcendentalist": Seelye ("Contemporary"), Sten. 

Eli James Murdock Fly (close friend of HM, who became an invalid): Gibson, L. Howard ("Stories"), Leyda ("Herman Melville, 1972"), Rogin. 

Peter Gansevoort (HM's uncle; a lawyer): Mumford (Study), Rogin. 

Nathaniel Hawthorne: Bickley (Method).

"Wakefield": Hoffman, Kaplan, R. W. B. Lewis, McNamara.
"The Old Apple Dealer": Levy, Waggoner.
"Ethan Brand": Browne (Humanism).
"The Celestial Railroad": Parker ("'Sequel'").
"The Custom House": Moldenhauer. 
Thomas Hood (19th-century British author): E. Stone ("Miss Norman"). 

Washington Irving: Bickley (Method), Douglas, Pops, Seelye ("Contemporary").

"The Adventure of the Mysterious Stranger."
"The Little Man in Black": Seelye ("Contemporary"). 
Charles Lamb (19th-century British author): Gibson and Arms, Conarroe. 

John Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding: Emery. 

James Maitland, The Lawyer's Story (New York Tribune and New York Times (Feb. 18, 1853): Bergmann. 

Ik Marvel [Donald Mitchell] (a 19th-century American humorist): Douglas. 

Thomas Maurice, Indian Antiquities: Franklin (Wake 135-36). 

Allan Melville (A younger brother; a lawyer): Arvin, Mumford (Study), Oliver ("Introduction"), Sealts (Resources).
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Gansevoort Melville (HM's older brother, a lawyer): Chase (Tales), Rogin. 

Herman Melville himself: Freeman, Mumford (Study), Thorp, and many others.

        "My Client's Story" Harper's Magazine (Dec. 1852): 48-52: Post-Lauria. 

Edgar Allan Poe: Literary World , United States Magazine and Democratic Review, Sept. 1856; Plumstead.

        "The Raven": Brooks, Colwell & Spitzer, Dew, Plumstead. 

Arthur Schopenhauer (German philosopher): Stempel and Stillians, Emery. 

Shakespeare: Watson. 

Lemuel Shaw (HM's father-in-law): Gale, Mumford (Study), Stark, Thomas.
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Henry David Thoreau: Oliver ("Second") often discredited--by Kazin, Moss, Parker ("Satire").
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        "Civil Disobedience": Morsberger, Busch.