Sign-In
Cart
The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade
Hardcover
Mystery & ThrillerScience FictionGeneral Fiction
ISBN13: 9781636377698
Publisher: Bibliotech Pr
Published: Mar 3 2022
Pages: 226
Weight: 0.98
Height: 0.69 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade, first published in New York on April Fool's Day 1857, is the ninth book and final novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book was published on the exact day of the novel's setting.
Centered on the title character, The Confidence-Man portrays a group of steamboat passengers. Their interlocking stories are told as they travel the Mississippi River toward New Orleans. The narrative structure is reminiscent of The Canterbury Tales (1392). Scholar Robert Milder notes: Long mistaken for a flawed novel, the book is now admired as a masterpiece of irony and control, although it continues to resist interpretive consensus.
The novel's title refers to its central character, an ambiguous figure. He sneaks aboard a Mississippi steamboat on April Fool's Day. This stranger attempts to test the confidence of the passengers. Their varied reactions constitute the bulk of the text. Each person, including the reader, is forced to confront the placement of his trust.
The novel is written as cultural satire, allegory, and metaphysical treatise, dealing with themes of sincerity, identity, morality, religiosity, economic materialism, irony, and cynicism. Many readers place The Confidence-Man alongside Melville's Moby-Dick and Bartleby, the Scrivener as a precursor to 20th-century literary pre-occupations with nihilism, existentialism, and absurdism.
The work includes satires of 19th-century literary figures: Mark Winsome is based on Ralph Waldo Emerson, while his practical disciple Egbert is Henry David Thoreau; Charlie Noble is based on Nathaniel Hawthorne; and a beggar in the story was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe.
The Confidence-Man was probably inspired by the case of William Thompson, a con artist active in New York City in the late 1840s.
The novel was turned into an opera by George Rochberg; it was premiered by the Santa Fe Opera in 1982, but was not held to be a success. The 2008 movie The Brothers Bloom, starring Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel Weisz, borrows some of the plot and makes numerous references to the book: One of the characters is named Melville, the steamer ship is named Fidèle, and the initial mark refers to these coincidences. (wikipedia.org)
Also from
Melville, Herman
Moby Dick (Royal Collector's Edition) (Case Laminate Hardcover with Jacket)
Melville, Herman
Hardcover
Moby Dick (LARGE PRINT, Extended Biography): Large Print Edition (Large Print Edition)
Melville, Herman
Paperback
Herman Melville - Clarel - Part II (of IV): "To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom"
Melville, Herman
Paperback
Herman Melville - Clarel - Part I (of IV): "Art is the objectification of feeling"
Melville, Herman
Paperback
Herman Melville Poetry Volume 1: "It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation."
Melville, Herman
Paperback
Large Print - Billy Budd, Sailor - Grand Type Collector's Edition - Matte Hardcover with Dust Jacket (Large Print Edition)
Melville, Herman
Hardcover
Herman Melville - Clarel - Part III (of IV): "There is sorrow in the world, but goodness too"
Melville, Herman
Paperback
Herman Melville - Pierre or, The Ambiguities: "Whatever fortune brings, don't be afraid of doing things"
Melville, Herman
Paperback
Herman Melville - Clarel - Part IV (of IV): "There is a touch of divinity even in brutes"
Melville, Herman
Paperback
Herman Melville Poetry 2: "I am, as I am; whether hideous, or handsome, depends upon who is made judge."
Melville, Herman
Paperback
Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Quiet Rebellion Against Modern Life - A Tale of Isolation, Resistance & Routine (Deluxe Hardbound Edition)
Melville, Herman
Zengerink, Tim
Hardcover
White-Jacket: Or The World In A Man-Of-War: Large Print Edition for a better reading experience
Melville, Herman
Paperback
Bartleby, The Scrivener & The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids
Melville, Herman
Paperback
Moby-Dick: Une aventure maritime épique explorant la quête obsessionnelle du capitaine Achab et le symbolisme du cachalot blanc
Melville, Herman
Paperback
Moby-Dick: An Epic Obsession with a Mythic Whale - A Timeless Journey into Madness and the Sea (Deluxe Hardbound Edition)
Melville, Herman
Zengerink, Tim
Hardcover
The Life and Remarkable Adventures of ISRAEL R. POTTER
Kriegel, Leonard
Potter, Israel
Melville, Herman
Paperback
Redburn: Las pruebas y tribulaciones de Katy Redburn en su lucha por la supervivencia.
Melville, Herman
Paperback
Large Print - Moby Dick, Volume 3 of 3 - Grand Type Collector's Edition - Matte Hardcover with Dust Jacket (Large Print Edition)
Melville, Herman
Hardcover
Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War: A Poetic Reflection on the American Civil War
Melville, Herman
Paperback
Моби Дик: Moby Dick, Bulgarian edition
Melville, Herman
Paperback
מאָבי דיק: Moby Dick, Yiddish edition
Melville, Herman
Paperback
Herman Melville - The Confidence Man: "It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation"
Melville, Herman
Paperback
Herman Melville - Israel Potter: "Friendship at first sight, like love at first sight, is said to be the only truth"
Melville, Herman
Paperback
Herman Melville - Moby Dick or, The Whale: "To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme"
Melville, Herman
Paperback
Also in
General Fiction
Elizabeth Spencer: Novels & Stories (Loa #344): The Voice at the Back Door / The Light in the Piazza / Knights and Dragons / Stories
Spencer, Elizabeth
Hardcover
Anniversaries, Volume 2: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl, April 1968-August 1968
Johnson, Uwe
Paperback
Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams: Short Stories, Prose, and Diary Excerpts
Plath, Sylvia
Paperback
Philip Roth: Novels 1967-1972 (Loa #158): When She Was Good / Portnoy's Complaint / Our Gang / The Breast
Roth, Philip
Hardcover
Selected Writings: Robert Musil: Young Torless, Three Women, the Perfecting of a Love, and Other Writings
Musil, Robert
Agee, Joel
Paperback