The LightningRod Man, Herman Melville
The LightningRod Man, Herman Melville
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The Lightning-Rod Man

Author: Herman Melville

Narrator: Patrick Lawlor

Unabridged: 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/07/2025

Synopsis

After spending the summer of 1853 in the Berkshire Mountains, where he supposedly had a real life encounter with a lightning-rod salesman, Melville published “The Lightning-Rod Man." At the end of this short story, the lightning-rod salesman is exposed for the fraud that he is. However, that will not keep his successors from fanning out to the Middle West, where lightning storms abound and farmers were gullible. On another level, the story can be interpreted as a confrontation between Good and Evil. Through description and diction, the narrator is understood as a follower of God, someone who believes in The Almighty watching over him. On the other hand, the lightning-rod man is seen as a negative character, someone who only has faith in the product he's peddling.

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 Peter on February 22, 2019

Wonderful tale of an unwavering salesman in lightning rods having a tough sales talk with an obstinate customer. Brilliant dialogue betweent the main characters here. What a classic sales story. It's relevance for our modern times? Well, there are still salesmen outside and they also have great stor......more

Goodreads review by Encarni on February 10, 2022

Un relato bastante corto que se lee en un ratito. Un diálogo entre el vendedor de pararrayos que sale a realizar su trabajo cuando hay tormenta, y un posible cliente. Una lucha dialéctica entre dos personajes de distinta opinión, bastante entretenido......more

Goodreads review by Chet on December 13, 2022

An interesting short story written in the 1800's that addresses with a comic air, the debate between science and earlier cultural beliefs while dealing with a sales-man of the time.......more

Goodreads review by Alberto on May 07, 2024

Un cuento muy ameno con diálogos brillantes en el que la llegada de un vendedor extraordinariamente pesado se convierte en una batalla dialéctica entre personajes de convicciones enfrentadas.......more

Goodreads review by Stella on December 12, 2019

Yo le habría comprado dos!!😅😀......more

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