Melville’s Tools of Bob le flambeur
Removing the sound from Melville’s Bob le flambeur might lead one to believe that he or she is watching a Hollywood film noir, circa 1950. Melville, though not professionally trained as a director, manages to create an oddly stirring and quirky French film shrouded in the sheer curtain of Hollywood film noir. Though he retains much of the Hollywood style, he also employs tools of his own—camera movement and voice-over—to embrace the film in Melville-vigilante-style.
Melville uses the trademarked tools of the noir film. For example, high key lighting and, therefore, deep shadows play a key determinant in one of the first scenes of Bob le flambeur. After establishing the setting through the reflection on a darkened window pane, the camera pans left to reveal five or six men standing around a table, lit only by the hanging lamp at least one foot below each of their chins. This leaves the men’s faces encompassed by darkness, forcing the audience to watch their hands and the gambling that is taking place. While all these factors—high key lighting, flooding shadows, tall, looming men, gambling, and near silence—all lend to the typical noir style, Melville uses odd camera movements to remain distinct. Within the same scene, there is a shot of Bob rolling dice; the camera swoops upward, as though coming from underneath the table, and ends up in a high angle shot, shooting downward at the dice. Now, combine that sweeping movement with the next cut, and Melville’s distinction appears. After the dice have been rolled, there is a three-quarter shot of Bob, who claps his hands once and walks off screen left. Suddenly, the camera lurches forward, as if to catch a glimpse of something that li...
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...lationship can be seen in Hawks’ 1944 film To Have and Have Not; Humphrey Bogart plays stern and experienced Harry Morgan, a man involved with Lauren Bacall’s character, Slim, a husky-voiced, wise young woman who butts heads with men. While the characters are written in the same essence, the acting in these cases also seems similar; Roger Duchesne and Humphrey Bogart both are older, stoic and serious where Isabel Corey and Lauren Bacall both are beautiful, young, quick-witted and seemingly independent.
Melville’s attempt to Americanize himself proved successful—his name he changed in honor of American novelist Herman Melville and he often wore a cowboy hat. Though Bob le flambeur is very much a tribute to Hollywood film noir, Melville manages to make it his own through quirky camera shots, over-the-top narration, and the set of beautifully grimy Paris streets.
Janey Place and Lowell Peterson article “Some Visual Motifs of Film Noir” establishes noir as a visual style and not a ...
One of the literary elements that Melville uses that convey the narrator's attitude towards Bartleby is diction. The author's diction in this short story is very descriptive and is also slightly comical. One of the ways this is used is when the author gently mocks the narrator by having him expose his flaws through his own words. For example, when the narrator talks of John Jacob Astor, a well respected man who complemented him, we find out how full of himself he is and how highly he thinks of himself. "The late John Jacob Astor, a parsonage little given to poetic enthusiasm, had no hesitation in pronouncing my first grand point…I will freely add, that I was not insensible to the late John Jacob Astor's good opinion." (Page 122, Paragraph2) Another example of the author's use of diction appears on page 127 in paragraph 2; "At first, Bartleby did an extraordinary quantity of writing. As if long famished for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my documents. There was no pause for digestion. He ran a day and night line, copying by sunlight and by candle-light. I should have been quite delighted with his application, had he been cheerfully industrious. But he wrote on silently, palely, mechanically." Here the narrator's description of Bartleby's writing habits in the office, at first, tell us that he is very pleased with his progress and the work he has done but then it tells us that he is not very enthusiastic but...
Early experiences in Melville’s life influenced many of his writings and the themes of his stories. As you know all of this began in a particular way, just like everybody else’s life.
In conclusion, this essay analyzes the similarities and differences of the two stories written by Herman Melville, Billy Budd and Bartleby. The settings, characters, and endings in the two stories reveal very interesting comparisons and contrasts. The comparison and contrast also includes the interpretation of the symbolism that Melville used in his two stories. The characters, Billy and Bartleby, could even be considered autobiographical representatives of Herman Melville.
Wilson, Sarah. "Melville and the Architecture of Antebellum Masculinity." American Literature 76.1 (2004): 59-87. Duke University Press. Web. 24 Nov. 2012.
First and foremost, film noir refers to the visual style of a picture. The imagery of film noir was influenced by early 20th century German expressionism, featuring distorted, sinister shapes and shadows. These precursors to film noir used abstract figures and looming shadows for bizarre, emotionally stirring results. Techniques such as chiaroscuro were used to give a dark and minimalistic feeling. In many cases lighting is limited to a single harsh light source, which obscures the image, and even throws shadows across actors’ faces. These elements ensure that an audience regards the actors and the setting with equal importance. Oblique angled shots permeate many film noirs, naturally provoking anxiousness and apprehension in the viewer. In Sun...
“Bartleby, the Scrivener”, is both intriguing and complex. This short story written in the first person sense by Herman Melville, introduces the character of a no-name lawyer who serves as the narrator of the story. This lawyer is perplexed by an employed scrivener working in his office named, Bartleby. It is interesting to look at the relationship that the lawyer has to Bartleby both psychologically and emotionally.
During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that, examining post classical at which time the relationship between them will become evident. It is my intention to reference films from both movements and also published texts relative to the subject matter. In order to illustrate the structures involved I will be writing about the subjects of genre and genre transformation, the representation of gender, postmodernism and the relationship between style, form and content.
We can never be one hundred percent certain of the validity of our literary analyses. This is especially the case with Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener”. Critics have been trying for decades to make sense of the text and most will describe it as “inscrutable”. I don’t claim to know better than the critics, but instead offer my own interpretation of the work. Based on my observations and analysis, Melville’s use of many elements in his story—first and foremost the character of Bartleby, but also the dead letters, the many walls of Wall Street, and the state of Wall Street itself—works well to develop a sense of hopelessness, whether intentional or not, in the story as well as the narrator and consequently the reader. This hopelessness could stem from a number of influences, such as a certain “incurable disorder” which some critics would argue is schizophrenia (Wilson), the quality of human futility in general, or the capitalist society in which Melville’s characters’ lives play out.
Many important American writers came to prominence during the Jazz Age, but their commonalities often stopped there. From lyrical to sparse, many different styles can be seen among these authors, such as those of Henry James, Edith Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, and Ernest Hemingway. One stylistic technique, stream of consciousness, was most associated with Joyce. Yet, Hemingway also used this technique with regularity and it is an important element in his war novel, A Farewell to Arms. This technique uses the interior monologue of a character to convey information, and thus the reader is allowed a more fluid picture of the true thoughts of the character, in this case, Lieutenant Frederick Henry. Also, the information contained in these stream of consciousness passages would not have been as effectively expressed in traditional prose style.
When a writer picks up their pen and paper, begins one of the most personal and cathartic experiences in their lives, and forms this creation, this seemingly incoherent sets of words and phrases that, read without any critical thinking, any form of analysis or reflexion, can be easily misconstrued as worthless or empty. When one reads an author’s work, in any shape or form, what floats off of the ink of the paper and implants itself in our minds is the author’s personality, their style. Reading any of the greats, many would be able to spot the minute details that separates each author from another; whether it be their use of dialogue, their complex descriptions, their syntax, or their tone. When reading an excerpt of Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast one could easily dissect the work, pick apart each significant moment from Hemingway’s life and analyze it in order to form their own idea of the author’s voice, of his identity. Ernest Hemingway’s writing immediately comes across as rather familiar in one sense. His vocabulary is not all that complicated, his layout is rather straightforward, and it is presented in a simplistic form. While he may meander into seemingly unnecessary detail, his work can be easily read. It is when one looks deeper into the work, examines the techniques Hemingway uses to create this comfortable aura surrounding his body of work, that one begins to lift much more complex thoughts and ideas. Hemingway’s tone is stark, unsympathetic, his details are precise and explored in depth, and he organizes his thoughts with clarity and focus. All of this is presented in A Moveable Feast with expertise every writer dreams to achieve. While Hemingway’s style may seem simplistic on the surface, what lies below is a layered...
Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is fraught with sexual imagery. The elaborate descriptions with which the author establishes his indulgent style of writing aptly reflect the often indulgent behaviors of the characters. Melville's choice of words is loaded with sensuality. This is most noticeable in the relationship between Ishmael and Queequeg. The evolution of their relationship throughout the text associates homosexuality with negative consequences. As the book progresses their interactions become increasingly more erotic. This negativity culminates with the death of Queequeg. Thus, intimate relationships between men are negatively depicted through a range of literary devices. The subject matter is reflective of Melville's attempt to construct a social commentary about homosexuality.
...h the special effects of the final scene where the thrash of the animated tail of Moby-Dick is able to destroy a the whaling boat and its rowers, reminding the viewer that man is insignificant in the scheme of his environment, and should therefore be respecting of it.
In Melville’s Bartleby, this distinction becomes clear immediately. Although any first-person narrative is designed to impart upon the reader a close proximity to the protagonist, there are extra measures apparent in the style of this short story that furthers this. Shortly into the beginning of the narration, the voice gives the following passage (pg. 4): “I do not speak it in vanity, but simply to record the fact, that I was not unemployed in my profession by the late John Jacob Astor, I name which, I admit, I love to repeat, for it hath a rounded and orbicular sound to it, and rings like unto bullion. I will freely add, that I was not insensible to the late John Jacob Astor’s good opinion.” This single block of text is heavily charged with conversational phrasing: “I do not speak it in vanity;” “I admit, I love to repeat;” “I will freely add.” Such structures signal that the voice is one issuing from not merely from a writer, but rather from a speaker. Furthermore, the structure of the following passages takes on the form of an oral report in which the narrator goes through descriptions of his colleagues point-by-point, as though he is simply trying to introduce them as concepts not to be forgotten throughout the ensuing lecture...
The novel is set during the early to mid 1800s in New Bedford, the largest whaling port at the time. Melville plunges the reader deep into the controversial industry we recognize as whaling by making the novel revolve around one task: getting revenge on Moby Dick, the white whale. Even by just initially setting the stage of Moby – Dick in New Bedford, Melville prepared for commenting on the whaling industry. By pushing limits and by publishing one of the first criticisms and explorations of the whaling industry, Melville turns Moby Dick into a layered novel, in which issues concerning nature are a significant layer. Melville recognizes what the slaughter of whales is enacting and by utilizing his words, text, and language, Melville recognizes a larger global movement and issue.