The Fiddler: Stories

Melville sets the narrative on Broadway, following a young poet named Helmstone who rushes into the street after a scathing review damns his verse.

Broadway draws the humiliated writer into a lively circus crowd alongside his friend Standard and an exuberant acquaintance named Hautboy. The story traces their afternoon through the bustle of Taylor’s saloon, where steaming stews and bowls of punch accompany an argument over talent and human nature.

A quiet fifth-story room in a city storehouse receives the three companions as Hautboy produces a dented old violin to play lively airs.

• Literary Satire: A bruised poet laments the public failure of his tragic verse about Cleothemes the Argive while watching common theatergoers applaud a grinning clown.
• Philosophical Fiction: Standard challenges his companion’s pride by contrasting the bitter envy of unrecognized genius with the effortless contentment of an unassuming friend.
• 19th-Century Setting: From the clamor of Manhattan omnibus traffic to an eccentric collection of auction furniture, period detail grounds this study of ambition and humility.
• Also by This Author: Moby Dick and Great Short Works of Herman Melville.