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The Apple Tree Table and Other Sketches
This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
329 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1856
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About the author
Herman Melville
1,621 books4,489 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.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 2, 2023
Very good: Tartarus (bleak allegory on roles of sexes in reproduction). Decent: Chimney, Cock, Failure, Fiddler, Pudding. Dull: Table, Hawthorne, Jimmy, Gees.
December 10, 2018
Racconto lungo molto carino. Melville si lancia in una ghost story che si trasformerà in qualcosa di diverso (in effetti, conoscendolo come autore, la ghost story pura mi avrebbe sorpreso)!
Lettura scorrevole, molto carina, che rappresenta con garbata ironia superstizioni e paure nell'ignoto.
Lettura scorrevole, molto carina, che rappresenta con garbata ironia superstizioni e paure nell'ignoto.
October 21, 2025
посмертна збірка «Яблуневий стіл та інші нариси» (1922):
«Яблуневий стіл, або Незвичайні духовні явища» 5 - готичне жахіття-нежахіття ще й смішне
«Готорн і його Мохи» 3 - літкритика, але без критики
«Джиммі Ровз» 4 - раніше було добре, зараз недобре
«Я та мій димар» 5 - найкраще, чувак, який любить свій димар більше за родину і себе
«Рай для парубків і Пекло для дівчат» 4 - гендер, секс без сексу, хлопці проти дівчат
«Кукуріку!» 4 - забагато трансценденталізму
«Скрипаль» 3 - я невизнаний талант
«Пудинг для злидарів і недоїдки багатіїв» 4 - мізантроп вдає філантропа
«Щаслива поразка» 3 - епігонство По
«Галики» 3 - псевдоетнографія
«Яблуневий стіл, або Незвичайні духовні явища» 5 - готичне жахіття-нежахіття ще й смішне
«Готорн і його Мохи» 3 - літкритика, але без критики
«Джиммі Ровз» 4 - раніше було добре, зараз недобре
«Я та мій димар» 5 - найкраще, чувак, який любить свій димар більше за родину і себе
«Рай для парубків і Пекло для дівчат» 4 - гендер, секс без сексу, хлопці проти дівчат
«Кукуріку!» 4 - забагато трансценденталізму
«Скрипаль» 3 - я невизнаний талант
«Пудинг для злидарів і недоїдки багатіїв» 4 - мізантроп вдає філантропа
«Щаслива поразка» 3 - епігонство По
«Галики» 3 - псевдоетнографія
November 5, 2018
Un racconto ben scritto che cattura completamente l'attenzione.Attenzione alla prefazione che, per motivi che non ho compreso, contiene lo spoiler del 90% di tutto il breve racconto.
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August 13, 2023only read ‘the apple tree table’
October 31, 2016
A decidedly mixed bag. This is a collection of all the short stories Melville published from 1853 to 1856 which didn't make it into Piazza Tales (plus, for some reason, the 1850 editorial "Hawthorne and His Mosses").
"The Happy Failure" - quite possibly the least pretentiously written Melville story every. Was blown away by the plainness and straightforwardness of the prose. Mildly humorous, but the ending is rather unrealistic.
"The Fiddler" - surprisingly good story about the snobbery of some intellectuals, as well as the downsides of wide artistic acclaim. Only negative here is that there's a slim chance Melville didn't actually write it!
"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" - very interesting tale of a magic rooster, but much like The Little Prince, I have to downgrade it for the ending's uncomfortable similarity to mass cult suicides like Jonestown in 1978 or Heaven's Gate in 1997.
"Poor Man's Pudding - Rich Man's Crumbs" - rather deft portrayal of the contention that neither the conservative 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' approach, nor the liberal 'generous government welfare' approach are good ways of addressing poverty.
"Paradise of Bachelors - Tartarus of Maids" - Melville illustrates an alleged sexual double standard of the 1800s: that older single men usually have cool, fun lives, while older single women usually have miserable lives of drudgery in workhouses.
"Jimmy Rose" - easily the weakest story of the bunch. There's a wealthy playboy who goes broke, and has to live off the charity of all his acquaintances for the rest of his life. Nothing much to see here.
"The 'Gees" - an incredibly racist sounding piece. In the 1970s, one scholar made a compelling case that Melville actually intended the story as a satiric attack on racism, but if so, he was waaaaay too subtle about it, and the satire went right over the heads of readers for decades.
"I and My Chimney" - hilarious farce about a man who's disturbingly fond of his house's colossally enormous chimney. His wife loathes the giant chimney, and hatches a bunch of hare-brained schemes to destroy it.
"The Apple Tree Table" - cool little ghost story where the rationalistic skeptics are proven correct, and it turns out there's a mundane explanation. And oddly for Melville, there's even a pro-Christianity message thrown in at the end.
"Hawthorne and His Mosses" - an excessively slobbering editorial which praises Nathaniel Hawthorne. Has some good bits though which attack Bardolatry, and the reverse chronological snobbery of many literary critics.
"The Happy Failure" - quite possibly the least pretentiously written Melville story every. Was blown away by the plainness and straightforwardness of the prose. Mildly humorous, but the ending is rather unrealistic.
"The Fiddler" - surprisingly good story about the snobbery of some intellectuals, as well as the downsides of wide artistic acclaim. Only negative here is that there's a slim chance Melville didn't actually write it!
"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" - very interesting tale of a magic rooster, but much like The Little Prince, I have to downgrade it for the ending's uncomfortable similarity to mass cult suicides like Jonestown in 1978 or Heaven's Gate in 1997.
"Poor Man's Pudding - Rich Man's Crumbs" - rather deft portrayal of the contention that neither the conservative 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' approach, nor the liberal 'generous government welfare' approach are good ways of addressing poverty.
"Paradise of Bachelors - Tartarus of Maids" - Melville illustrates an alleged sexual double standard of the 1800s: that older single men usually have cool, fun lives, while older single women usually have miserable lives of drudgery in workhouses.
"Jimmy Rose" - easily the weakest story of the bunch. There's a wealthy playboy who goes broke, and has to live off the charity of all his acquaintances for the rest of his life. Nothing much to see here.
"The 'Gees" - an incredibly racist sounding piece. In the 1970s, one scholar made a compelling case that Melville actually intended the story as a satiric attack on racism, but if so, he was waaaaay too subtle about it, and the satire went right over the heads of readers for decades.
"I and My Chimney" - hilarious farce about a man who's disturbingly fond of his house's colossally enormous chimney. His wife loathes the giant chimney, and hatches a bunch of hare-brained schemes to destroy it.
"The Apple Tree Table" - cool little ghost story where the rationalistic skeptics are proven correct, and it turns out there's a mundane explanation. And oddly for Melville, there's even a pro-Christianity message thrown in at the end.
"Hawthorne and His Mosses" - an excessively slobbering editorial which praises Nathaniel Hawthorne. Has some good bits though which attack Bardolatry, and the reverse chronological snobbery of many literary critics.
June 10, 2025
"Spirits! Spirits!"
La narrazione in prima persona è molto diffusa nelle storie di fantasmi, e immagino anche horror, che vogliano sfruttare la patina d'incertezza concessa dal punto di vista soggettivo. Esempio ne siano le storie profondamente ambigue di Henry James, che fece un uso ampio, quasi sistematico di questo escamotage.
Come il sedicente protagonista, questo racconto è sospeso “tra Democrito e Cotton Mather”, con un gioco delle parti fra i personaggi divertente per quanto manicheo, e costruisce una delicata fantasia sul sentimento di un passato ancestrale.
Piacevole divertissement di uno scrittore che altrimenti, specialmente nei racconti, pare capace di comporre unicamente capolavori.
Sull'audiolibro
Fortunamente per una volta la performance di questa lettrice è misurata e, anche quando interpreta battute concitate, mai sopra le righe (ovvero, sopra la soglia dell'udibile).
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews