Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street by Herman Melville

First published in the year 1853, famous American English author Herman Melville’s short novella ‘Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street’ begins when a Wall Street lawyer hires a new clerk who, after an initial bout of hard work, refuses to make copy and any other task required of him, with the words “I would prefer not to”.