The confidence-man : his masquerade / by Herman Melville.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891.

Series:

Sabin Americana : History of the Americas, 1500-1926.

Sabin Americana : History of the Americas, 1500-1926

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Swindlers and swindling--Fiction.

Swindlers and swindling.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vi, 394 p. )

Edition:

[1st American ed.]

Other Title:

Confidence-man

Place of Publication:

New York : Dix, Edwards, 1857.

Summary:

On April Fool's Day in 1856, a shape-shifting grifter boards a Mississippi riverboat to expose the pretenses, hypocrisies, and self-delusions of his fellow passengers. The con artist assumes numerous identities ' a disabled beggar, a charity fundraiser, a successful businessman, an urbane gentleman ' to win over his not-entirely-innocent dupes. The central character's shifting identities, as fluid as the river itself, reflect broader aspects of human identity even as his impudent hoaxes form a meditation on illusion and trust. This comic allegory addresses themes of sincerity, character, and morality in its challenge to the optimism and materialism of mid-19th-century America. By the time of its publication, readers had pigeonholed Herman Melville as a writer of adventure yarns. The novel was completely misunderstood by the author's contemporaries, and its financial failure drove him away from fiction. With the passage of time, however, The Confidence-Man has come to be recognized for its stunningly modern techniques and its indictment of the dark side of the American dream.

Notes:

Reproduction of original from Huntington Library.

Sabin no. 47482.

Cited in:

RLIN, CTRG97-B1958

OCLC:

85792191