On October 26, 2011, a post appeared on the Occupy Wall Street Library blog titled "I would prefer not to." The constant refrain of Herman Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener" became one of Occupy's defining mottos, appearing on placards, T-shirts, and tote bags. The phrase became so symbolic that it was used on the posters…

The present article investigates the rhythm of study as described by Giorgio Agamben in "The idea of study", present in Idea of prose. In this short treatise, Agamben presents Melville's scrivener Bartleby as the exemplary embodiment of study. Bartleby's paradigmatic status, according to Agamben's interpretation, does,…

Drawing on the case of a student of his who, like Herman Melville's Bartleby, simply preferred not to write, the author argues that current celebration of technology encourages passive resistance. He emphasizes that authentic, productive classroom experiences derive from in-person interactions that directly connect in relevant ways to students'…

Originally published in "Putnam's Monthly Magazine" in 1853, nearly a century before autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was formally recognized, Herman Melville's "Bartleby" is the naive tale of a nonconforming, socially awkward character. However, when placed into contemporary context, retrospective analysis indicates that Bartleby may in fact have…

Suggests the possibility of using two actors to portray one narrator in a Chamber Theatre performance of Herman Melville's short story, Bartleby the Scrivener. (MH)

Literature, which deals with truth, should be the focus of the English department instead of writing, which is a trivial technology. (DD)

Description of projects available through the Internet that are making English-language electronic texts available focuses on Project Gutenberg. Other projects discussed include Project Bartleby; Alex, a catalog of electronic texts; Banned Books Online; Human Languages Page; The Childrens' Literature Web Guide; and a directory of digital…

Melville's "Bartleby" and "The Paradise of Bachelors and The Tartarus of Maidens" provide insights into workplace literacy on the following issues: existential nature of literacy, empowerment versus compliance, class and gender exploitation, and the use of literacy as a tool to label, control, and delimit people and their…

Assigning a summer reading to entering freshmen is a growing trend at hundreds of American colleges and universities. Colleges typically pick one book and ask students to read it outside their courses. Many invite the author to help kick off the year by speaking on campus at convocation. Most colleges see the key purpose of a common reading…

Designed as a forum for the exchange of ideas on significant issues in the humanities, this annual journal presents articles written by two-year college faculty in the humanities disciplines. The 1991 issue includes the following: (1) "Why I Write and How I Teach," by Linda Ching Sledge; (2) "The Australian Character," by Carol L. Nelson-Burns;…

The violence of any literacy acquisition in the contact zone between the powered, the disempowered, and the empowered is never clearcut. But, nevertheless, calls to theory literacy from the late 70s and early 80s have been answered with a rush. Michael Berube writes that "graduate school in English seems to have a very bad effect on people…

Examining how teachers help students respond to short fiction, this book presents 25 essays that look closely at "teachable" short stories by a diverse group of classic and contemporary writers. The approaches shared by the contributors move from readers' first personal connections to a story, through a growing facility with the…