Book Cover

Previous Herman Melville review:

• The Piazza Tales

Now, the possession of a key to anything, at once provokes a desire to unlock and explore; and this, too, from a mere instinct of gratification, irrespective of any particular benefit to accrue.

# Review

This is a collection of 9 short stories and 1 essay published posthumously; the stories tend to be shorter than those in The Piazza Tales and tend to be more strange; nevertheless, I enjoyed reading them.

# The Apple-Tree Table

The protagonist in this story discovers a noise from an old table in an old house he lives in with his family. What ensues is a frenzy of paranoia and fears of the supernatural. This story explores the conflict between one's emotions and one's desire to appear rational.

# Hawthorne and His Mosses

This is a literary critique of Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story collection Mosses from an Old Manse; Hawthorne and Melville were good friends who shared a similar vision on literature, so it's not surprise that the critique is overwhelmingly positive. While out of place in a short story collection, this essay is thoughtful and well-written, especially in his analysis in the position of English literature in America at the time.

# Jimmy Rose

The story is about a wealthy and gregarious man named Jimmy Rose who has fallen into financial despair. It's a very detailed account of him trying to maintain his dignity and good grace despite his external circumstances. The story reads from a very symapthetic perspective and is almost like a tragedy. It's a reminder that what one has may not always persist.

# I and My Chimney

This story is unique, to say the least; it's about a man's obsession with his massive chimney and him thwarting his family's attempt at getting him to remove it. I'm not too sure what to make it; the chimney could represent something important for Melville, or it could be a sexual metaphor, who knows?

# The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids

The story is two contrasting vignettes: one of the authors experiences having a sumptuous meal in a cozy appartment in London, and another of visiting a soulless paper factory in New England. The juxtaposition is jarring; for me, this story is a commentary on the rapid development of technology and globalism, and the social and economic inequalities which can be created due to those two factors, especially between men and women.

# Cock-A-Doodle-Doo! or, The Crowing of the Nobel Cock Beneventano

I wasn't sure about I and My Chimney but I am almost certain this story has highly sexual undertones. For one, the main metaphor is quite sexually explicit; the imagery of a cock is hard to ignore. It's a wonderfully strange story and thus is quintessentially Melville.

# The Fiddler

This stories tells the tale of Hautboy, who was once a prodigious violinist, but found happiness and fulfillment after abandoning the clamours of his audience. This story is a commentary on how fame, talent, and success aren't necessarily correlated with being happy or fulfilled; happiness and fulfillment come from being satisfied with what one has.

# Poor Man's Pudding and Rich Man's Crumbs

Much like The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids, this is another story focusing on contrasting the rich and poor. The first sketch details the humble meal that a poor person eats while the second sketch details the leftovers given away to the disenfranchised in London after a massive feast. While the first sketch paints a grim picture of the poor, the second sketch is highly sardonic, highlighting the patronizing attitude of the well-off towards those living at the margins of society.

# The Happy Failure

This story details a failed experiment being conducted by the narrator's uncle; this story isn't about success or failure, but about one's attitude towards life. Much like The Fiddler, the story details how one's attitude towards life ultimately determines one's happiness and satisfaction.

# The 'Gees

While at a surface level this story may appear extremely racist, it's actually a clever critique about the ethnologist and their scientific racism. The 'Gees are a fictional people and Melville sardonically mimics the tone often used by the ethnologists who support scientific racism.

# Conclusion

While not as iconic as The Piazza Tales, this collection does include some gems.

# Overall rating: 7.7

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