EPISODE 35 ”Oh Humanity!” Billy Budd and Bartleby the Scrivener

Herman Melville (1819-1891)

 

Most famously the author of Moby Dick but his best work is Bartleby the Scrivener (1853) - “I would prefer not to.”

 

Billy Budd (1891) - left unfinished at this death

Our preferred adaptation is a loose one - Beau Travail directed by Claire Denis (1999)

As adapted into an opera by Benjamin Britten - Billy Budd (1951) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6cdCuKhjKM

 

Thank you to Powerbleeder for the theme song "Future Mind" listen here!

Other Music: "Farewell to thee, old Rights o' Man" from the Billy Budd opera by Bitten