The Confidence-man
His Masquerade
$30.90
- Paperback
400 pages
- Release Date
25 August 2005
Summary
In his introduction, Stephen Matterson discusses Melville’s literary career, the role of the trickster in American literature, and themes of satire and religious allegory in this unusual novel.
Onboard the Fidèle, a steamboat floating down the Mississippi to New Orleans, a confidence man sets out to defraud his fellow passengers. In quick succession he assumes numerous guises – from a legless beggar and a worldly businessman to a collector for charitable causes and a ‘cosmopolitan’ ge…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780140445473 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0140445471 |
| Author: | Herman Melville, Stephen Matterson |
| Publisher: | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Imprint: | Penguin Classics |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 400 |
| Edition: | 1st |
| Release Date: | 25 August 2005 |
| Weight: | 279g |
| Dimensions: | 197mm x 130mm x 17mm |
| Series: | Penguin Classics |
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What They're Saying
Critics Review
“The great transcendental satire.” -Carl Van Vechten
“The great transcendental satire.” —Carl Van Vechten
About The Author
Herman Melville
Herman Melville (1819-91) became in his late twenties a highly successful author of exotic novels based on his experiences as a sailor - writing in quick succession Typee, Omoo, Redburn and White-Jacket. However, his masterpiece Moby-Dick was met with incomprehension and the other later works which are now the basis of his reputation, such as Bartleby, the Scrivener and The Confidence-Man, were failures. Melville stopped writing fiction and the rest of his long life was spent first as a lecturer and then, for nineteen years, as a customs official in New York City. He was also the author of the immensely long poem Clarel, which was similarly dismissed. At the end of his life he wrote Billy Budd, Sailor which was published posthumously in 1924.
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