Tonight, we'll be reading "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street". A short story, by Herman Melville, first serialized anonymously in two parts in 1853. In the story, a Wall Street lawyer hires a new clerk who, after an initial bout of hard work, refuses to do any task required of him. Though no great success at the time of its publication "Bartleby, the Scrivener" is now among the most noted of American short stories, and is considered a precursor of absurdist literature.