Melville, Herman

Contains short fiction from the nineteenth-century American novelist, and features his unfinished novella entitled "Billy Budd, Sailor," along with the "Piazza Tales," which includes "Bartleby," "The Bell-Tower," and others; and includes a brief biography of the author.

Presents Herman Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener," in which Bartleby, a copyist at a New York City law office, begins to inexplicably refuse work with the line "I would prefer not to"; and "Benito Cereno," a story of rebellion aboard a slave ship.

Contains a narrative in which Herman Melville recounts the experiences he had while traveling on the South Seas and represents the lifestyle of sailors in the Pacifc and their influence over the Polynesian natives.

Ismael, a sailor, recounts the ill-fated voyage of a whaling ship led by the fanatical Captain Acab in search of the white whale that had crippled him.