The Confidence-Man

    The Confidence-Man

    His Masquerade

    By Herman Melville

    $8.00

    Publication Date: 15th November 2017

    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, c... Read More
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    Paperback
    26 in stock
    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, c... Read More
    Description
    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.

    Reprint of a standard edition.
    Details
    • Price: $8.00
    • Pages: 304
    • Publisher: Dover Publications
    • Imprint: Dover Publications
    • Series: Dover Thrift Editions: Classic Novels
    • Publication Date: 15th November 2017
    • Trim Size: 5 x 8 in
    • ISBN: 9780486817514
    • Format: Paperback
    • BISACs:
      FICTION / Classics
      FICTION / World Literature / American / 19th Century
      FICTION / Satire
      FICTION / Psychological
    Author Bio

    Herman Melville (1819–1891) found early success with stories inspired by his adventures in the South Seas. His fortunes declined with the 1851 publication of Moby-Dick, now recognized as a masterpiece but scorned by Melville’s contemporaries. The author was obliged to work as a New York City customs inspector and died in obscurity, three decades before the critical reassessment of his work.

    Table of Contents
    1. A Mute Goes Aboard a Boat on the Mississippi
    2. Showing That Many Men Have Many Minds
    3. In Which a Variety of Characters Appear
    4. Renewal of Old Acquaintance
    5. The Man with the Weed Makes It an Even Question Whether He Be a Great Sage or a Great Simpleton
    6. At the Outset of Which Certain Passengers Prove Deaf to the Call of Charity
    7. A Gentleman with Gold Sleeve-Buttons
    8. A Charitable Lady
    9. Two Business Men Transact a Little Business
    10. In the Cabin
    11. Only a Page or So
    12. Story of the Unfortunate Man, from Which May Be Gathered Whether or No He Has Been Justly So Entitled
    13. The Man with the Traveling-Cap Evinces Much Humanity, and in a Way Which Would Seem to Show Him to Be One of the Most Logical of Optimists
    14. Worth the Consideration of Those to Whom It May Prove Worth Considering
    15. An Old Miser, upon Suitable Representation, Is Prevailed upon to Venture an Investment
    16. A Sick Man, After Some Impatience, Is Induced to Become a Patient
    17. Towards the End of Which the Herb-Doctor Proves Himself a Forgiver of Injuries
    18. Inquest into the True Character of the Herb-Doctor
    19. A Soldier of Fortune
    20. Reappearance of One Who May Be Remembered
    21. A Hard Case
    22. In the Polite Spirit of the Tusculan Disputations
    23. In Which the Powerful Effect of Natural Scenery Is Evinced in the Case of the Missourian, Who, in View of the Region Round About Cairo, Has a Return of His Chilly Fit
    24. A Philanthropist Undertakes to Convert a Misanthrope, but Does Not Get Beyond Confuting Him
    25. The Cosmopolitan Makes an Acquaintance
    26. Containing the Metaphysics of Indian-Hating, According to the Views of One Evidently Not So Prepossessed as Rousseau in Favor of Savages
    27. Some Account of a Man of Questionable Morality, but Who, Nevertheless, Would Seem Entitled to the Esteem of That Eminent English Moralist Who Said He Liked a Good Hater
    28. Moot Points Touching the Late Colonel John Moredock
    29. The Boon Companions
    30. Opening with a Poetical Eulogy of the Press, and Continuing with Talk Inspired by the Same
    31. A Metamorphosis More Surprising Than Any in Ovid
    32. Showing That the Age of Magic and Magicians Is Not Yet Over
    33. Which May Pass for Whatever It May Prove to Be Worth
    34. In Which the Cosmopolitan Tells the Story of the Gentleman-Madman
    35. In Which the Cosmopolitan Strikingly Evinces the Artlessness of His Nature
    36. In Which the Cosmopolitan Is Accosted by a Mystic, Whereupon Ensues Pretty Much Such Talk as Might Be Expected
    37. The Mystical Master Introduces the Practical Disciple
    38. The Disciple Unbends, and Consents to Act a Social Part
    39. The Hypothetical Friends
    40. In Which the Story of China Aster Is, at Second-Hand, Told by One Who, While Not Disapproving the Moral, Disclaims the Spirit of the Style
    41. Ending with a Rupture of the Hypothesis
    42. Upon the Heel of the Last Scene, the Cosmopolitan Enters the Barber's Shop, a Benediction on His Lips
    43. Very Charming
    44. In Which the Last Three Words of the Last Chapter Are Made the Text of Discourse, Which Will Be Sure of Receiving More or Less Attention from Those Readers Who Do Not Skip It
    45. The Cosmopolitan Increases in Seriousness
     
     
     
     
    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.

    Reprint of a standard edition.
    • Price: $8.00
    • Pages: 304
    • Publisher: Dover Publications
    • Imprint: Dover Publications
    • Series: Dover Thrift Editions: Classic Novels
    • Publication Date: 15th November 2017
    • Trim Size: 5 x 8 in
    • ISBN: 9780486817514
    • Format: Paperback
    • BISACs:
      FICTION / Classics
      FICTION / World Literature / American / 19th Century
      FICTION / Satire
      FICTION / Psychological

    Herman Melville (1819–1891) found early success with stories inspired by his adventures in the South Seas. His fortunes declined with the 1851 publication of Moby-Dick, now recognized as a masterpiece but scorned by Melville’s contemporaries. The author was obliged to work as a New York City customs inspector and died in obscurity, three decades before the critical reassessment of his work.

    1. A Mute Goes Aboard a Boat on the Mississippi
    2. Showing That Many Men Have Many Minds
    3. In Which a Variety of Characters Appear
    4. Renewal of Old Acquaintance
    5. The Man with the Weed Makes It an Even Question Whether He Be a Great Sage or a Great Simpleton
    6. At the Outset of Which Certain Passengers Prove Deaf to the Call of Charity
    7. A Gentleman with Gold Sleeve-Buttons
    8. A Charitable Lady
    9. Two Business Men Transact a Little Business
    10. In the Cabin
    11. Only a Page or So
    12. Story of the Unfortunate Man, from Which May Be Gathered Whether or No He Has Been Justly So Entitled
    13. The Man with the Traveling-Cap Evinces Much Humanity, and in a Way Which Would Seem to Show Him to Be One of the Most Logical of Optimists
    14. Worth the Consideration of Those to Whom It May Prove Worth Considering
    15. An Old Miser, upon Suitable Representation, Is Prevailed upon to Venture an Investment
    16. A Sick Man, After Some Impatience, Is Induced to Become a Patient
    17. Towards the End of Which the Herb-Doctor Proves Himself a Forgiver of Injuries
    18. Inquest into the True Character of the Herb-Doctor
    19. A Soldier of Fortune
    20. Reappearance of One Who May Be Remembered
    21. A Hard Case
    22. In the Polite Spirit of the Tusculan Disputations
    23. In Which the Powerful Effect of Natural Scenery Is Evinced in the Case of the Missourian, Who, in View of the Region Round About Cairo, Has a Return of His Chilly Fit
    24. A Philanthropist Undertakes to Convert a Misanthrope, but Does Not Get Beyond Confuting Him
    25. The Cosmopolitan Makes an Acquaintance
    26. Containing the Metaphysics of Indian-Hating, According to the Views of One Evidently Not So Prepossessed as Rousseau in Favor of Savages
    27. Some Account of a Man of Questionable Morality, but Who, Nevertheless, Would Seem Entitled to the Esteem of That Eminent English Moralist Who Said He Liked a Good Hater
    28. Moot Points Touching the Late Colonel John Moredock
    29. The Boon Companions
    30. Opening with a Poetical Eulogy of the Press, and Continuing with Talk Inspired by the Same
    31. A Metamorphosis More Surprising Than Any in Ovid
    32. Showing That the Age of Magic and Magicians Is Not Yet Over
    33. Which May Pass for Whatever It May Prove to Be Worth
    34. In Which the Cosmopolitan Tells the Story of the Gentleman-Madman
    35. In Which the Cosmopolitan Strikingly Evinces the Artlessness of His Nature
    36. In Which the Cosmopolitan Is Accosted by a Mystic, Whereupon Ensues Pretty Much Such Talk as Might Be Expected
    37. The Mystical Master Introduces the Practical Disciple
    38. The Disciple Unbends, and Consents to Act a Social Part
    39. The Hypothetical Friends
    40. In Which the Story of China Aster Is, at Second-Hand, Told by One Who, While Not Disapproving the Moral, Disclaims the Spirit of the Style
    41. Ending with a Rupture of the Hypothesis
    42. Upon the Heel of the Last Scene, the Cosmopolitan Enters the Barber's Shop, a Benediction on His Lips
    43. Very Charming
    44. In Which the Last Three Words of the Last Chapter Are Made the Text of Discourse, Which Will Be Sure of Receiving More or Less Attention from Those Readers Who Do Not Skip It
    45. The Cosmopolitan Increases in Seriousness