French Literature Reviews - 2026

Th. Bouchard, The Death of Bartleby
Comparative and World Literature

The Death of Bartleby

Thierry Bouchard

éd. Fargo

152 p. - 16 €
EAN : 9791091902540
In bookstores : February 21, 2020

The copyist's enigmatic formula, "I would prefer not to", continues to haunt minds long after its invention. Whatever the translation, for some it has become more than a mirror—it is a reason for being. This tour de force has been executed to perfection, yet it is accompanied by a curious blind spot or the recurrent omission of a highly significant detail: the end of the short story and Bartleby's grim fate.

This narrative, weaving together a reading of Melville and the demise of a fictional "writer of disappearance," serves above all as a reflection on writing and the renunciation of the world it entails.

What comes to an end here—only to rise from its ashes as well?—is a certain ideal era of literature, with its "penetrating readers," elective affinities, haunted libraries, mysterious collection of literary scraps, but also its Byzantine manias, more or less tarnished glories, and dead ends. We shall see where this leads us.

So much so that a chasm soon opens, separating beyond return those who wish to "live as a reader and a writer" from society. For no peaceful, serene, and beneficent relationship is possible between those who wish to "live as a reader and a writer" and this society. One will no doubt have observed, with the same disapproval that I cannot help expressing each time, the same protest, the same defiance that I cannot help repeating each time, society's regular attempts to rein in the unruly, bring the recalcitrant into line, and compel rebels to—to use the exact word—see the error of their ways.

But come what may, stubbornly, whoever wishes to "live as a reader and a writer" will resist. They will defy. They will protest. They will sound the alarm.

Let us also add this bluntly: anyone who has decided to "live as a reader and a writer" can make no concessions whatsoever; whoever, with regard to their "inner life," has decided to "live as a reader and a writer" cannot accept the slightest constraint that might attack their "comfort zone," the peace, silence, and solitude that define it in the first place. — Th. B.

View the book on the publisher's website...

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An article about this work can be read on en-attendant-nadeau.fr :

"Endless Literature", by Maurice Mourier (online May 6, 2020)

From time to time, unexpected joy comes your way: that of reading a thoroughly satisfying, thoroughly rewarding book, one that you embrace immediately with the certainty of its quality. Thierry Bouchard's *The Death of Bartleby* belongs to this category of rare objects. A man recounts the reading life of his friend, a writer bearing the name of Melville's character, as his disappearance approaches.

Herman Melville's short story concerning a Wall Street scrivener who responds to every request with the formula I would prefer not to has long engaged critics, philosophers, and readers. The character's enigmatic refusal and subsequent demise have inspired numerous interpretations regarding passive resistance, alienation, and modern labor. In The Death of Bartleby, Thierry Bouchard weaves a reading of Melville together with the narrative of a fictional writer approaching his own disappearance. The book reflects on writing and the renunciation of the world it entails, examining the tensions experienced by those who choose to live entirely within the sphere of reading and writing while confronting societal pressures and demands for conformity. Readers interested in contemporary reflections on Melville and the existential conditions of authorship may find this work relevant to their pursuits.