Bartleby, the Scrivener by Melville
Bartleby, the Scrivener by Melville  
Podcast: Ascend - The Great Books Podcast
Published On: Tue Sep 22 2026
Description: Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, we end Short Story September with “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” by Melville - a seemingly simple tale about men in a law office that becomes a puzzling, existential tale. Dcn. Garlick is joined by two excellent guests: Mr. Joey Bremer, a teacher at Holy Family Classical School and an iconographer studying at the King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts in London, and “Montana” of Montana Classical College, an anonymous scholar who runs an X account that shares incredible insights on Melville’s Moby Dick.Overall, “Bartleby, the Scrivener” is a perplexing, existential tale that tends to quietly unsettle you by revealing the realities of modern life.CHECK OUT THE NEW ASCEND BOOK CLUBThis episode of Ascend takes up Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street,” a quiet, unsettling tale whose central figure answers nearly every request with the same spare formula: “I would prefer not to.” The conversation lingers on the contrast between that stubborn preference and the narrator’s own softness—an elderly lawyer who prizes the easiest way of life, cannot quite govern his office, and keeps mistaking indecision for charity. Names, nicknames, dull eyes, and the cramped windows that look onto other walls all become clues: who in this world still possesses a will, and who has already been reduced to a role?Listeners are invited to sit with the story’s larger questions rather than resolve them. What does the monotonous labor of copying do to a man? How does a commercial, conventional life flatten thumos and leave even well-meaning people lukewarm? Why does Bartleby’s refusal feel at once more human and more deathly than the quirks of his co-workers? Drawing on the textures of Moby-Dick and the aporetic spirit of Plato, the discussion treats the tale as a puzzle that rewards patient attention—an invitation to notice what modernity may have done to the soul, and to return to the text itself with sharper eyes.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Melville and 'Bartleby'00:12 Introduction to the episode and main themes02:05 Biographical context of Melville's life03:47 Overview of 'Bartleby the Scrivener'06:54 Themes of monotony and human will09:59 Character analysis: the narrator and Bartleby14:57 Philosophical and literary connections20:05 Implications for modern life and office culture25:00 Concluding thoughts and interpretations44:30 Dark passages and existential reflections in 'Bartleby'45:25 Repetition of life and the prison of modernity46:24 The loneliness of Bartleby and the narrator's solitude46:56 Prison as a metaphor for societal dehumanization48:02 Bartleby's awareness of death and existential insight50:24 The role of the dead letters office and existential suffering51:29 Melville's possible critique of modernity and capitalism53:06 The dehumanizing nature of copying work and modern labor55:07 Bartleby's refusal as act of will and control57:47 Reason, preference, and the will in Bartleby's choices01:00:20 The significance of small acts and existential meaning01:02:19 Melville's relationship with Plato and classical philosophy01:09:24 The philosophical underpinnings of Melville's critique01:12:10 The aporetic nature of the story and open-ended interpretation01:15:15 Comparison with other literary characters and philosophical figures01:18:36 Fate, free will, and the acceptance of mortality01:21:55 Melville, Plato, and the modern crisis of human nature01:24:52 Final reflections on the story's philosophical depth and relevanceCHECK OUT THE NEW ASCEND BOOK CLUB