Description
Book SynopsisA new, definitive edition of Herman Melville?s virtuosic short stories?American classics wrought with scorching fury, grim humor, and profound beauty Though best-known for his epic masterpiece
Moby-Dick,
Herman Melville also left a body of short stories arguably unmatched in American fiction. In the sorrowful tragedy of
Billy Budd, Sailor; the controlled rage of
Benito Cereno; and the tantalizing enigma of
Bartleby, the Scrivener; Melville reveals himself as a singular storyteller of tremendous range and compelling power. In these stories, Melville cuts to the heart of race, class, capitalism, and globalism in America, deftly navigating political and social issues that resonate as clearly in our time as they did in Melville?s. Also including
The Piazza Tales in full, this collection demonstrates why Melville stands not only among the greatest writers of the nineteenth century, but also as one of our greatest contemporaries.
This Penguin Classics edition features the Reading Text of
Billy Budd, Sailor, as edited from a genetic study of the manuscript by Harrison Hayford and Merton M. Sealts, Jr., and the authoritative Northwestern-Newberry text of
The Piazza Tales.
For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theseries to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-datetranslations by award-winning translators.
