Download full text
(external source)
Citation Suggestion
Please use the following Persistent Identifier (PID) to cite this document:
https://doi.org/10.18052/www.scipress.com/ILSHS.73.7
Exports for your reference manager
An ecocritical reading of Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener"
[journal article]
Abstract This research is an ecocritical reading of Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener". Melville's treatment of the environment is described and analyzed with regard to Augé's theory of non-Places. The examples of non-place in Melville's Wall Street story include the compartmentalized office, the urban laby... view more
This research is an ecocritical reading of Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener". Melville's treatment of the environment is described and analyzed with regard to Augé's theory of non-Places. The examples of non-place in Melville's Wall Street story include the compartmentalized office, the urban labyrinth, artificial and natural greeneries and oriental landscapes. The motif of compartmentalization forms the binary of insider and outsider. A close attention to the binaries in this story reveal Melville's critical attitude towards urban culture that threatens the American identity and mocks the American predilection for mobility in open spaces. This story reveals the way social institutions of an urban culture can determine the tragic fate of an out of place individual. Melville, in this story, reveals the consequences of marginalizing nature and indicates his ecological concerns in mid-nineteenth century America. He mourns the fading out of biocentric view of nature and warns against the domination of the anthropocentric worldview which is brought about by modernity, enlightenment and capitalism.... view less
Keywords
criticism; urbanity; identity; culture; town; nature; literature; ecology; marginality; United States of America; nineteenth century
Classification
Ecology, Environment
Cultural Sociology, Sociology of Art, Sociology of Literature
Document language
English
Publication Year
2016
Page/Pages
p. 7-16
Journal
International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences (2016) 73
ISSN
2300-2697
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed