Hello! Welcome to Classics Read Aloud. I’m Ruby Love, and I’m delighted to bring you a curated stream of excellent literature—mostly short stories, and the occasional novel.
Please sign up to receive new readings directly to your inbox!
“I would prefer not to.”
Today, Moby-Dick is regarded as one of the greatest novels in American history and a towering achievement for its author, Herman Melville. Not so when it was first published: sales were poor, and those who read it mostly had no idea what to do with it. His subsequent novel, Pierre, fared no better.
“Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street” was an attempt to turn the tide on a disappointing run. Seeking commercial justification for his writing and needing to claw himself out of debt to his publishers, Melville geared the tale for magazine publication in two parts. Perhaps contrary to purpose, Melville’s perspective on Wall Street was hardly full of the type of speculative intrigue that might entice the attention—and dollars—of fly-by-night audiences. Only much later did the work emerge as a masterpiece, appreciated for its allegorical subtlety, its engaging absurdity, and that oh-so-confounding five-word phrase that one never forgets.
Amid the hustle and bustle of Wall Street, the titular character stands out for his apparent apathy—he is the antithesis of ambition and industry, “one of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable.” The attention he draws to himself is far from positive, and the reactions of those who have to deal with his infuriating indifference are both comic and painful. What is one to do?
In the end, “Bartleby the Scrivener” was unable to deliver Melville from hardship or contemporary irrelevancy. How could it? After all, the story reflects Melville’s pointed rejection of lowering himself to the sensationalism he believed necessary for commercial acclaim. He would, it seems, have preferred not to.
Please enjoy…
Before you float off to enjoy the story, please help Classics Read Aloud grow by “♡ Liking” this post and sending it to a friend—word of mouth is more powerful than any algorithm. Thank you!
Listening: I cannot stop listening to “Smear Shaped River,” the latest single released by Michael Nau and Seth Kauffman by way of their enviably collaborative entity, Dream Sitch. Their albums are created by correspondence in a “game of musical ping-pong.” Nau sends lyrics to Kauffman, who then improvises on the spot with instrumentation, and off they go.
These two artists operate with a degree of creativity and trust that I would call unique if it wasn’t generally reflective of how we work at Doomberg. The results have been fantastic. Their 2023 album Long Rattle is on regular rotation here, and I’m anxiously awaiting the drop of their newest later this month.
Proofing: One of my goals last year was to bake our weekly bread. Some flawed attempts with the starter combined with a rather frequent travel schedule forced me to put my hopes on the back-burner. Reconnecting recently with a lovely friend who bakes, I am the lucky recipient of a sample of her beloved sourdough starter, which she kindly sent through the post and now sits bubbling away happily on my counter.
With our spring break migration on the horizon, I had to find a way to keep this precious gift alive. Hallelujah, the YouTube gods have delivered, despite my general badmouthing of their algorithms and evolving raison d’être. If you have any inclination to try baking bread from a starter at home, Tom in Cleveland demystifies the entire undertaking. I feel a kinship with his attention to detail and his inclination towards securing the right tools for every job.
I think I may just make a go of it this year.
Little Women, an excerpt, by Louisa May Alcott, 1868
“A Doctor’s Visit” by Anton Chekhov, 1898
“The End of the World” by James Kirke Paulding, 1843
