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Search - Billy Budd and The Piazza Tales (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics)

Billy Budd and The Piazza Tales - Barnes & Noble Classics Series - Barnes & Noble Classics
Author: Herman Melville

Billy Budd and the Piazza Tales, by Herman Melville, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of ... more »Barnes & Noble Classics: New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.

Largely neglected in his own lifetime, Herman Melville mastered not only the great American novel but also the short story and novella forms. In Billy Budd and The Piazza Tales, Melville reveals an uncanny awareness of the inscrutable nature of reality.

Published posthumously in 1924, Billy Budd is a masterpiece second only to Melville’s Moby-Dick. This complex short novel tells the story of “the handsome sailor” Billy who, provoked by a false charge, accidentally kills the satanic master-at-arms. Unable to defend himself due to a stammer, he is hanged, going willingly to his fate. Although typically ambiguous, Billy Budd is seen by many as a testament to Melville’s ultimate reconciliation with the incongruities and injustices of life.

The Piazza Tales (1856) comprises six short stories, including the perpetually popular “Benito Cereno” and “Bartleby,” a tale of a scrivener who repeatedly distills his mordant criticism of the workplace into the deceptively simple phrase “I would prefer not to.”

Robert G. O’Meally is Zora Neale Hurston Professor of Literature at Columbia University, where he has served on the faculty for seventeen years; since 1999 he has been the director of Columbia’s Center for Jazz Studies. He is the author of The Craft of Ralph Ellison and Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday, and the principal writer of Seeing Jazz, the catalog for the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibit on jazz painting and literature.

ISBN-13: 9781593082536
ISBN-10: 1593082533
Publication Date: 4/1/2006
Pages: 384
Rating:

Currently 3.5/5 Stars.

3.5 stars, based on 2 ratings

Publisher: Barnes & Noble Classics
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 1
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Read All 1 Book Reviews of "Billy Budd and The Piazza Tales Barnes Noble Classics Series Barnes Noble Classics"

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Reese C. reviewed Billy Budd and The Piazza Tales (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics) on 1/14/2008

My edition is not this one. Mine is from 1961, but it is in excelent condition.

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Read All Book Reviews of "Billy Budd and The Piazza Tales Barnes Noble Classics Series Barnes Noble Classics"

Genres:

Literature & Fiction >> General >> Classics
Literature & Fiction >> World Literature >> United States >> Classics >> Melville, Herman
Literature & Fiction >> World Literature >> United States >> 19th Century
Literature & Fiction >> Authors, A-Z >> ( M ) >> Melville, Herman >> General
Literature & Fiction >> Authors, A-Z >> ( M ) >> Melville, Herman >> Paperback

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