{"product_id":"bartleby-co","title":"Bartleby \u0026 Co.","description":"In \u003cem\u003eBartleby \u0026amp; Co.\u003c\/em\u003e, an enormously enjoyable novel, Enrique Vila-Matas tackles the theme of silence in literature: the writers and non-writers who, like the scrivener Bartleby of the Herman Melville story, in answer to any question or demand, replies: \"I would prefer not to.\" Addressing such \"artists of refusal\" as Robert Walser, Robert Musil, Arthur Rimbaud, Marcel Duchamp, Herman Melville, and J. D. Salinger, \u003cem\u003eBartleby \u0026amp; Co.\u003c\/em\u003e could be described as a meditation: a walking tour through the annals of literature. Written as a series of footnotes (a non-work itself), \u003cem\u003eBartleby\u003c\/em\u003e embarks on such questions as why do we write, why do we exist? The answer lies in the novel itself: told from the point of view of a hermetic hunchback who has no luck with women, and is himself unable to write, \u003cem\u003eBartleby\u003c\/em\u003e is utterly engaging, a work of profound and philosophical beauty.","brand":"New Directions Publishing Corporation","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48515421339897,"sku":"9780811216982","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/1811\/7625\/files\/imageloader_910839db-aa17-4e28-abe7-7ab865015418.jpg?v=1781207741","url":"https:\/\/hookeandplotte.com\/products\/bartleby-co","provider":"Hooke and Plotte Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}