Lightning-Rod Man, The

Name: Lightning-Rod Man, The
Brand: Dreamscape Media
Availability: InStock
Author: Herman Melville
ISBN: 9781974911844

Author: Herman Melville

Series: The Piazza Tales

Narrator: Mark Owen

Unabridged: 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Dreamscape Media

Published: 06/26/2018

Categories: Fiction, Classic

Synopsis

Chosen for inclusion in William Evans Burton's Cyclopediae of Wit and Humor of 1857, with an illustration by Henry Louis Stephens, The Lightning-Rod Man was the one Melville tale to be available throughout his lifetime, thanks to reissues of this volume. More a parable than a character-driven story, The Lightning-rod man is a charlatan who tries to profit by selling fearful people lightning-rods during thunderstorms. The narrator has a difficult encounter with the Lightning-Rod man in this story about overcoming fear and superstition.

About Herman Melville

Herman Melville (1819–1891) was an American novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and poet who is often classified as part of dark romanticism. He is best known for his novel Moby Dick and novella Billy Budd, the latter which was published posthumously. His first three books gained much attention, the first becoming a bestseller, but after a fast-blooming literary success in the late 1840s, his popularity declined precipitously in the mid-1850s and never recovered during his lifetime. When he died, he was almost completely forgotten. It was not until the "Melville Revival" in the early twentieth century that his work won recognition, most notably Moby Dick, which was hailed as one of the chief literary masterpieces of both American and world literature.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Christy on November 01, 2019

Herman Melville’s most famous work was Moby Dick (about 850 pages) followed by Bartleby the Scrivener (about 35 pages). Given the choice, most high school English students would choose Bartleby, which it why it’s familiar to so many of us. The narrator of the story hires Bartleby as a “scrivener,” o......more

Goodreads review by Fenna on February 23, 2025

4 stars for Bartleby, 3 stars for the Bell-tower and The Lightning-rod Man. Honestly, could have done without reading the last two. Melville has some humorous characters that he will sometimes put into his stories and Bartleby has a few of them. I couldn't really get into the other two stories at al......more

Goodreads review by Patty on May 26, 2011

This adaptation of three Herman Melville stories is a fine example of why I enjoy audiobooks. Not only do they allow me to enjoy literature while I'm stuck doing much more mundane tasks, but in the hands of the right director and the right voice actor, the stories seem to have an added depth. In the......more

Goodreads review by Donna on February 13, 2022

My first "taste" of Herman Melville's writing and storytelling. Well worth the time. Clever, good characters and great writing - as only 19th century American writers can produce. While I enjoyed it, I'm still scared to ready Moby Dick.......more

Goodreads review by Liz on November 10, 2007

I enjoyed The Bell Tower more than other Melville stories. Sometimes it kills me that such great writers use such horribly long run on sentences. In every story of Melville’s I've read the opening paragraph is one sentence.......more