What do you think?
Rate this book
El vendedor de pararrayos
El vendedor de pararrayos es un cuento poco conocido de Herman Melville, autor reconocido por su bíblico Moby Dick. El cuento se ambienta en medio de una tormenta cuando llama a la puerta de una casa un vendedor de pararrayos. En el breve relato bajo la lluvia y los relámpagos se inicia una lucha simbólica entre el bien y el mal, la religión y la ciencia entre dos personajes anclados a sus creencias. La obra fue publicada en una recopilación de cuentos y breves relatos fantásticos.
13 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1856
13 people are currently reading
156 people want to read
About the author
Herman Melville
2,459 books4,574 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was no longer well known to the public, but the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival. Moby-Dick eventually would be considered one of the great American novels.
Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in dire financial straits. He took to sea in 1839 as a common sailor on a merchant ship and then on the whaler Acushnet, but he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands. Typee, his first book, and its sequel, Omoo (1847), were travel-adventures based on his encounters with the peoples of the islands. Their success gave him the financial security to marry Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of the Boston jurist Lemuel Shaw. Mardi (1849), a romance-adventure and his first book not based on his own experience, was not well received. Redburn (1849) and White-Jacket (1850), both tales based on his experience as a well-born young man at sea, were given respectable reviews, but did not sell well enough to support his expanding family.
Melville's growing literary ambition showed in Moby-Dick (1851), which took nearly a year and a half to write, but it did not find an audience, and critics scorned his psychological novel Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (1852). From 1853 to 1856, Melville published short fiction in magazines, including "Benito Cereno" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener". In 1857, he traveled to England, toured the Near East, and published his last work of prose, The Confidence-Man (1857). He moved to New York in 1863, eventually taking a position as a United States customs inspector.
From that point, Melville focused his creative powers on poetry. Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) was his poetic reflection on the moral questions of the American Civil War. In 1867, his eldest child Malcolm died at home from a self-inflicted gunshot. Melville's metaphysical epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land was published in 1876. In 1886, his other son Stanwix died of apparent tuberculosis, and Melville retired. During his last years, he privately published two volumes of poetry, and left one volume unpublished. The novella Billy Budd was left unfinished at his death, but was published posthumously in 1924. Melville died from cardiovascular disease in 1891.
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was no longer well known to the public, but the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival. Moby-Dick eventually would be considered one of the great American novels.
Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in dire financial straits. He took to sea in 1839 as a common sailor on a merchant ship and then on the whaler Acushnet, but he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands. Typee, his first book, and its sequel, Omoo (1847), were travel-adventures based on his encounters with the peoples of the islands. Their success gave him the financial security to marry Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of the Boston jurist Lemuel Shaw. Mardi (1849), a romance-adventure and his first book not based on his own experience, was not well received. Redburn (1849) and White-Jacket (1850), both tales based on his experience as a well-born young man at sea, were given respectable reviews, but did not sell well enough to support his expanding family.
Melville's growing literary ambition showed in Moby-Dick (1851), which took nearly a year and a half to write, but it did not find an audience, and critics scorned his psychological novel Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (1852). From 1853 to 1856, Melville published short fiction in magazines, including "Benito Cereno" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener". In 1857, he traveled to England, toured the Near East, and published his last work of prose, The Confidence-Man (1857). He moved to New York in 1863, eventually taking a position as a United States customs inspector.
From that point, Melville focused his creative powers on poetry. Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) was his poetic reflection on the moral questions of the American Civil War. In 1867, his eldest child Malcolm died at home from a self-inflicted gunshot. Melville's metaphysical epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land was published in 1876. In 1886, his other son Stanwix died of apparent tuberculosis, and Melville retired. During his last years, he privately published two volumes of poetry, and left one volume unpublished. The novella Billy Budd was left unfinished at his death, but was published posthumously in 1924. Melville died from cardiovascular disease in 1891.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
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 stories to tell. But I doubt that someone surpasses 'Jupiter Tonans' here. Absolutely recommended!
April 2, 2019
A fairly funny short story about a lightning rod salesman who is deathly afraid of lightning.
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
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.
May 7, 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.
May 26, 2017
Κεραυνός εν αιθρία είναι αυτός ο συγγραφέας... ό,τι μικρό και «ταπεινό» κι αν έχει γράψει!
https://pepperlines.blogspot.gr/2017/...
https://pepperlines.blogspot.gr/2017/...
June 18, 2015
Cuento paródico y muy divertido de Herman Melville. Ray Bradbury toma prestado al personaje del el vendedor para incluirlo en su novela de terror "La Feria de las Tinieblas". Se nota la gran admiración que tenía por Herman Melville...
December 13, 2019
Yo le habría comprado dos!!😅😀
September 11, 2019
طرق على الباب ....ظهور غير متوقع لبائع تنز ملابسه و ترشح ماء يقف على عتبه بابك....جو مكفهر و عاصفه برقيه رعديه....يريد ان يبيعك عصى تقاوم البرق...فيدخل و يبدأ السجال...بين بائع و مشترى ...لنتعمق اكثر...بين وجهتى نظر...و نتعمق اكثر بين شخص يؤمن بالقدر و لا يخافه و اخر غير مقنع بافكاره و متزعزع...لا شك ان من يتكأ على ايمانه لا تفلح اي قوه على تغييرها قيد انمله....اما متزعزع الافكار فبالسهوله التي سيدخل بها يعرض لافكاره امامك بنفس السهوله التي سيجر اذياله خائبا مهزوما امامك...هل هنا هزيمه التجربه و العلم امام الدين...ربما لكن هي مجرد بدايه لسجال لم ينته...
اول قرااتي لمالفيل...
اول قرااتي لمالفيل...
January 7, 2026
An odd story by Herman Melville about a door to door travelling salesman selling lightening rods. If for nothing else, I would equate it to one of the many bizarre short stories that Mark Twain once wrote
April 16, 2020
A very short story that explores similar themes of trust and human motivation with The Confidence-Man.
August 28, 2025
I hate that guy
July 6, 2023
melville is a genius and that’s all i have to say
February 20, 2015
This is the first work I have read by Melville (I know, I must get to Moby Dick). This short story was full of meaning, if the reader wants to see it. I do not want to give away anything, not that this story truly has much to give away. Just know that after the story, you will be thinking of what you had done in a similar situation and what that says about the way you live your life.This is a quick read that makes the reader think. Consequently, five stars.
March 23, 2014
"The Lightning-Rod Man" is a classic 1854 story of a persistent door to door salesman and his effort to sell a customer a lightning-rod during a storm with lightning and thunder. His prospective customer is not interested.
October 8, 2017
Poignant.
October 29, 2019
Herman Melville could write beautifully about peeling a potato. This short story has a lightning rod salesman burst into a man’s cabin and proceed to sell him.
September 25, 2022
Primera vez leído (14/Agosto/2020): 2.5 estrellas.
Me encanta el relato hecho por Hernando Ivan Cano😂 (audiolibro).
Me encanta el relato hecho por Hernando Ivan Cano😂 (audiolibro).
January 16, 2022
Melville es mi escritor romántico estadounidense favorito.
Relato breve y consiso, ideal para salir de los bloqueos de lectura.
Relato breve y consiso, ideal para salir de los bloqueos de lectura.
March 23, 2023
Short, humorous enough tale about a scared man trying to sell lightning rods in a storm to a man whose not buying it.
September 18, 2023
Ah! The beauty of lightning cracking in the Appalachian Mountains--Whose that knocking on my door? And my, why are you using your knuckles, heathen? There is a perfectly functional door knocker.
"The Lightning-Rod Man" by Herman Melville begins with a solitary man listening, no, no, embracing a beautiful thunderstorm outside of his mountain home. This joyful scene is interrupted by a traveling lighting-rod salesman's rap on the door. Thus begins an exchange between two starkly different individuals.
"It was a polished copper rod, four feet long, lengthwise attached to a neat wooden staff, by insertion into two balls of greenish glass, ringed with copper bands. The metal rod terminated at the top tripodwise, in three keen tine, brightly gilt. He held the thing by the wooden part alone."
The interaction seems playful at first. The protagonist and the lightning-rod man first exchange pleasantries. Then, the protagonist begins an Aristotelian examination of the lightning-rod man's intentions, product, and conduct. The protagonist brings up a recent event where a church was struck by lightning (the church had lightning rods sold by this man) and Canada's use of lightning rods. The lightning-rod man besmirches Canadians because they use iron not cooper like he uses. His lightning-rods are the best on the market, but the protagonist does not think it respectable to besmirch the people in his field of business.
Frankly, it feels as if the protagonist plays with the traveling salesman during the exchange. He gives the lightning-rod man ample opportunity to be "human" and steer away from his showmanship, but, Hark! the lightning-rod man pursues the sale.
"You mountaineers are most exposed. In mountainous countries the lightning-rod man should have the most business."
Finally, the lighting-rod man uses fear in order to capture the sale. Hmm, does this sound familiar 21st century America? The protagonist, questions answered, reverts back to faith in the Deity in power.
"In thunder as in sunshine, I stand at ease in the hands of my God."
Stumped by the protagonist, wet from the downpour, angry by a perceived waste of time, the lightning-rod man is sent out of the protagonist's home with a broken wand. The 19th century Merlin "...still dwells in the land; still travels in storm-time, and drives a brave trade with the fears of man."
"The Lightning-Rod Man" by Herman Melville begins with a solitary man listening, no, no, embracing a beautiful thunderstorm outside of his mountain home. This joyful scene is interrupted by a traveling lighting-rod salesman's rap on the door. Thus begins an exchange between two starkly different individuals.
"It was a polished copper rod, four feet long, lengthwise attached to a neat wooden staff, by insertion into two balls of greenish glass, ringed with copper bands. The metal rod terminated at the top tripodwise, in three keen tine, brightly gilt. He held the thing by the wooden part alone."
The interaction seems playful at first. The protagonist and the lightning-rod man first exchange pleasantries. Then, the protagonist begins an Aristotelian examination of the lightning-rod man's intentions, product, and conduct. The protagonist brings up a recent event where a church was struck by lightning (the church had lightning rods sold by this man) and Canada's use of lightning rods. The lightning-rod man besmirches Canadians because they use iron not cooper like he uses. His lightning-rods are the best on the market, but the protagonist does not think it respectable to besmirch the people in his field of business.
Frankly, it feels as if the protagonist plays with the traveling salesman during the exchange. He gives the lightning-rod man ample opportunity to be "human" and steer away from his showmanship, but, Hark! the lightning-rod man pursues the sale.
"You mountaineers are most exposed. In mountainous countries the lightning-rod man should have the most business."
Finally, the lighting-rod man uses fear in order to capture the sale. Hmm, does this sound familiar 21st century America? The protagonist, questions answered, reverts back to faith in the Deity in power.
"In thunder as in sunshine, I stand at ease in the hands of my God."
Stumped by the protagonist, wet from the downpour, angry by a perceived waste of time, the lightning-rod man is sent out of the protagonist's home with a broken wand. The 19th century Merlin "...still dwells in the land; still travels in storm-time, and drives a brave trade with the fears of man."
April 23, 2024
Meh.
It was ok, but not worth reviewing.
For the moment at least.
It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1856] [24p] [Fiction] [Not Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------
★★★☆☆ Moby-Dick or, The Whale. [3.5]
★★★☆☆ Billy Budd, Sailor.
★★☆☆☆ The Lightning-Rod Man.
-----------------------------------------------
Meh.
Estuvo bien, pero no vale la pena reseñarlo.
Al menos por ahora.
Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1856] [24p] [Ficción] [No Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------
It was ok, but not worth reviewing.
For the moment at least.
It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1856] [24p] [Fiction] [Not Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------
★★★☆☆ Moby-Dick or, The Whale. [3.5]
★★★☆☆ Billy Budd, Sailor.
★★☆☆☆ The Lightning-Rod Man.
-----------------------------------------------
Meh.
Estuvo bien, pero no vale la pena reseñarlo.
Al menos por ahora.
Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1856] [24p] [Ficción] [No Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------
December 30, 2023
This little short story is a classic sales narrative. The persistent opportunistic salesman expresses his supposed paranoia of the current lightening storm situation but what can be recognized in this dialogue with a wise customer is strangely relevant to what we see today. Doesn't this sound at least vaguely familiar?
“The lightning-rod man still dwells in the land; still travels in storm-time, and drives a brave trade with the fear of man.”
The stirring up of fear in order to convince the gullible that what is being sold will protect a man from danger. Melville's story was first published in 1856 and it confirms that human nature just does not really change. But isn't this resistant customer perceptive?!
If you have a few minutes in your busy schedule, read this short tale!
“The lightning-rod man still dwells in the land; still travels in storm-time, and drives a brave trade with the fear of man.”
The stirring up of fear in order to convince the gullible that what is being sold will protect a man from danger. Melville's story was first published in 1856 and it confirms that human nature just does not really change. But isn't this resistant customer perceptive?!
If you have a few minutes in your busy schedule, read this short tale!
August 5, 2024
Las tormentas con ráfagas de viento, truenos y relámpagos generan cierto temor a muchas personas.
En este relato, durante el transcurso de uno de estos temporales, un curioso individuo llega a una casa con la intención de vender un pararrayos.
Entabla una conversacion con el dueño de casa, dirigida a convencerlo de comprar el artículo.
Sin embargo el miedo ancestral del vendedor frente al fenómeno natural es advertido por el anfitrión, generándose así un diálogo entretenido, con un tono de humor.
En este relato, durante el transcurso de uno de estos temporales, un curioso individuo llega a una casa con la intención de vender un pararrayos.
Entabla una conversacion con el dueño de casa, dirigida a convencerlo de comprar el artículo.
Sin embargo el miedo ancestral del vendedor frente al fenómeno natural es advertido por el anfitrión, generándose así un diálogo entretenido, con un tono de humor.
December 26, 2024
The lightning rod man is a very short story and my second introduction to Melville, strange in a Poe style as the lightning rod man tries to convince the science based peddler to buy his lightning rods while in the middle of the storm. It is humorous and strange, they both detest each other at the end as the sales man slinks back into the woods to convince someone else to buy his lightning rods by instilling fear while in the middle of a storm.
June 27, 2021
Relato breve y conciso, pero entretenido, una trifulca entre un montañes y un vendedor muy exaltado, es para una lectura ocasional ya que no te tardas mucho en completarlo (Quizás 30 minutos a lo sumo).
July 23, 2023
Funny short story
Resist fear by accepting the uncertainties of earthly life and believe instead in the certainties of heavenly future. No amount of precaution can prevent trials that must be weathered.
Resist fear by accepting the uncertainties of earthly life and believe instead in the certainties of heavenly future. No amount of precaution can prevent trials that must be weathered.
December 3, 2024
Cuento corto sobre la manera de ver la vida de un vendedor de pararrayos, que bien puede ser la misma de muchas personas que solo ven lo negativo y el temor de lo que puede pasar. O bien la estrategia de un vendedor que abusa del temor o necesidad de los clientes para tratar de obtener su ganancia.
December 21, 2024
The succinctly written story of a lighting-rod salesman trying to flog his wares to a prickly potential customer.
I never could tell if the salesman was really phobic about lightning or whether his bluster was just a sales ploy.
Not bad, but not one I'll remember.
I never could tell if the salesman was really phobic about lightning or whether his bluster was just a sales ploy.
Not bad, but not one I'll remember.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews