Aspern Papers (Heftet (myke permer))

The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade is a quiet but bitter castigation of mankind. Melville relentlessly reveals man's utter lack of faith in one another, and discloses the facility with which most men can be duped. As the author's last major work of fiction, The Confidence-Man rivals Mark Twain's late works for gloom, pessimism, and insight. As passengers aboard the steamboat Fidele prepare for their trip from St. Louis to New Orleans down the Mississippi River, they read a placard offering a reward for the capture of an imposter from the East -- a confidence man. During the trip, the imposter assumes many disguises as he goes about the boat cheating and duping passengers out of their money. In confrontations between the confidence man and his victims, Melville explores the incapacity of the Christian values of faith, hope, and charity to ward off evil acts. He generalizes, with sizzling insight, the Fidele passengers to represent the human species.