Bartleby, The Scrivener

"Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" is a short story by the American writer Herman Melville. It first appeared anonymously in two parts in the November and December 1853 editions of Putnam's Magazine. It tells the story of Bartleby, a man hired to work in a law firm as a scrivener. As time goes on, Bartleby becomes stranger and stranger, refusing to do any work and taking up residence in the offices.