tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post4629918534138019923..comments2024-03-18T19:17:28.460+00:00Comments on The little white attic : Revisiting "Bartleby"- questions and more questions Hai Di Nguyenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-23965342797904860252016-06-30T13:22:04.964+01:002016-06-30T13:22:04.964+01:00I need to get this right.
"At one end they l...I need to get this right. <br />"At one end they looked upon the white wall of the interior of a spacious sky-light shaft, penetrating the building from top to bottom. This view might have been considered rather tame than otherwise, deficient in what landscape painters call "life." But if so, the view from the other end of my chambers offered, at least, a contrast, if nothing more. In that direction my windows commanded an unobstructed view of a lofty brick wall, black by age and everlasting shade; which wall required no spy-glass to bring out its lurking beauties, but for the benefit of all near-sighted spectators, was pushed up to within ten feet of my window panes. Owing to the great height of the surrounding buildings, and my chambers being on the second floor, the interval between this wall and mine not a little resembled a huge square cistern." <br />And: <br />"I placed his desk close up to a small side-window in that part of the room, a window which originally had afforded a lateral view of certain grimy back-yards and bricks, but which, owing to subsequent erections, commanded at present no view at all, though it gave some light. Within three feet of the panes was a wall, and the light came down from far above, between two lofty buildings, as from a very small opening in a dome."<br />So the lawyer's office's surrounded by 3 walls, right? A white one, a black brick one, and a wall of unspecified colour close to Bartleby?Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-43967139477791797802016-06-30T13:14:14.130+01:002016-06-30T13:14:14.130+01:00That's possible.That's possible. <br />Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-4658230366961206912016-06-29T14:03:54.479+01:002016-06-29T14:03:54.479+01:00New to me!
It is possible that the wall is not bl...New to <i>me</i>!<br /><br />It is possible that the wall is <i>not</i> blank and impenetrable for Bartleby. Maybe he sees something on it, or through it. Maybe it is intensely interesting.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-66452153297202518732016-06-29T09:37:31.367+01:002016-06-29T09:37:31.367+01:00Yeah, that's a good point. I agree with you.
...Yeah, that's a good point. I agree with you. <br />I've been thinking about the walls in "Bartleby". He's surrounded by the walls of his cubicle. Beyond the walls are the wall that Bartleby sees through his window. That's all he sees, there is no view. Beyond that literal, concrete wall of course is the metaphorical wall, the feeling of hopelessness and despair Bartleby feels and the pointlessness he sees in everything. Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-26198348925103649352016-06-29T09:31:47.593+01:002016-06-29T09:31:47.593+01:00Tim's questions:
Yeah, part of the point is t...Tim's questions: <br />Yeah, part of the point is that Bartleby is unknowable and impenetrable. Impenetrable as the wall that obsesses him.<br />No, it's not possible to really know anyone, or oneself. <br />Where and how knowledge shall be found, that's the question. Melville does address book learning vs experience in <i>Moby Dick</i>. <br />Is knowledge possible? Absolute knowledge, no, but we try.<br />What do you mean, if we're isolated in not knowing? <br />And yeah, in some sense you can say we're all Bartleby, depending on how you interpret the character. Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-1416608098257147722016-06-29T09:23:05.982+01:002016-06-29T09:23:05.982+01:00You found something new though.You found something new though.Hai Di Nguyenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02230670162621139739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-29328062775081363182016-06-28T20:13:36.750+01:002016-06-28T20:13:36.750+01:00R.T.,
Chuckle . . . R.T.,<br /><br />Chuckle . . . Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10233846613173866140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-68545945114374415422016-06-28T20:07:36.632+01:002016-06-28T20:07:36.632+01:00Ouch, Fred, you wound me! Okay, no more BS.Ouch, Fred, you wound me! Okay, no more BS.RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-65796224285224903582016-06-28T20:05:30.954+01:002016-06-28T20:05:30.954+01:00R.T.,
I see that you are preparing to deal with t...R.T.,<br /><br />I see that you are preparing to deal with the nihilistic 18-20 year-olds you will encounter in your courses. <br /><br />It's been decades since I last participated in those late night/early morning BS sessions which we thought were so profound and original. <br /><br />Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10233846613173866140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-28527656963588526352016-06-28T19:52:43.616+01:002016-06-28T19:52:43.616+01:00i think R.T. is circling around a good point... i...i think R.T. is circling around a good point... i believe Melville thought in a metaphorical way and that B represents basically an allegory reflecting the hopelessness he himself felt in his ongoing pursuit of a meaningful existence... life for most people IS standing in one place, staring at a wall in one sense or another; most don't realize it; they think they are going somewhere, but they're really just caught up in a social niche that enables them to survive; in their delusional states, they imagine themselves "going" places, without ever becoming aware that there is nowhere to go... and that the only goal they can be sure of reaching is the final one... i even see this in Moby, in which Ahab is stuck in his fixation and can't get out of it, like he's staring at a wall, a fixation that glues him to the deck of a whaler and keeps him from getting on with his life... i'm still thinking about it, but the above seems logical to me...Mudpuddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17194891656971454279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-78929863143236928582016-06-28T19:36:30.687+01:002016-06-28T19:36:30.687+01:00Isn't the problem of the story built into the ...Isn't the problem of the story built into the characterization of the unknowable, impenetrable Barnaby? Is it possible ever to know anyone? It is possible for anyone to know herself? Where and how shall knowledge be found? Is knowledge ever possible? Are we all isolated in not knowing? Are we Barnaby? RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901980733463068698.post-37378651609299106262016-06-28T17:00:33.415+01:002016-06-28T17:00:33.415+01:00"new" is greatly overrated."new" is greatly overrated.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.com