Herman Melville 
The Piazza Tales 

Written in seclusion following the intense negative public reaction to the publication of his novel Pierre, The Piazza Tales is Melville’s accessible and entertaining collection of short stories concerning love, labor and loss. The collection includes the author’s three most important achievements in the genre of short fiction, Bartleby, the Scrivener, Benito Cereno, and The Encantadas, his sketches of the Galapagos Islands. Melville had originally intended to entitle the volume Benito Cereno and Other Sketches, but settled on the definitive title after he had written the introductory story, which concerns the coincidental meeting of mutual long-distance admirers separated by a valley in the mountains.

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Herman Melville (1819 — 1891) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and poet. Although he experienced some success during his lifetime, he quickly faded from literary fame and did not regain popularity until the early 20th century, when Moby Dick was hailed as a literary masterpiece and paved the way for the critical celebration of his other works, including Billy Budd, Benito Cereno, and Bartleby, the Scrivener.