The Piazza Tales

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The Piazza Tales is a collection of short stories by Herman Melville, which he published with Dix & Edwards in 1856 in the United States. A British edition followed shortly afterwards. Except for the title story, "The Piazza," all of the stories had appeared in Putnam's Monthly the years before. It was the only such collection published during Melville's lifetime^[1]. Originally, Melville had intended to entitle the volume "Benito Cereno and Other Sketches"^[2], but it was "The Encantadas," his sketches of the Galápagos Islands, that garnered the most attention from critics^[3]. Even though The Piazza Tales received largely favorable reviews, it did not sell well enough to get Melville out of his financial straights^[4].

1 Contents
2 Notes
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Contents

The Piazza
Bartleby the Scrivener (published in Putnam's Nov. and Dec. 1853)
Benito Cereno (published in Putnam's Oct., Nov. and Dec. 1855)
The Lightning-Rod Man (published in Putnam's Aug. 1854)
The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles (published in Putnam's March, Apr., and May 1854)
The Bell Tower (published in Putnam's Aug. 1855)

[edit] Notes

^ Rollyson and Paddock, 2001: 157
^ Rollyson and Paddock, 2001: 157
^ Branch, 1974:35
^ Robertson-Laurant, 1995: 358. Parker, 1996:283ff extensively discusses the contemporary reviews and how ineffective they ultimately proved to be.

[edit] References

Branch, Watson G. Herman Melville, the Critical Heritage. London; Boston: Routledge & K. Paul, 1974. ISBN 0-7100-7774-2
Parker, Hershel. Herman Melville: A Biography. 2 vols. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-8018-5428-8
Robertson-Lorant, Laurie. Melville: A Biography. New York: Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 1995. ISBN 0-517-59314-9
Rollyson, Carl E., and Lisa Olson Paddock. Herman Melville a to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. Facts on File Library of American Literature. New York: Facts on File, 2001. ISBN 0-8160-3851-1