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The Lightning-Rod Man by Herman Melville
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The Lightning-Rod Man

$10.49

Narrator Mark Owen

This audiobook uses AI narration.

Weโ€™re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.

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Length 19 minutes
Language English
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Chosen for inclusion in William Evans Burton's Cyclopediae of Wit and Humor of 1857, with an illustration by Henry Louis Stephens, The Lightning-Rod Man was the one Melville tale to be available throughout his lifetime, thanks to reissues of this volume. More a parable than a character-driven story, The Lightning-rod man is a charlatan who tries to profit by selling fearful people lightning-rods during thunderstorms. The narrator has a difficult encounter with the Lightning-Rod man in this story about overcoming fear and superstition.

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.

Mark Owen is an actor, an audiobook narrator, and a singer-songwriter from northwest Ohio. A long-time Toledo-area musician, he plays the mafia boss Vito Mancini in the 2018 indie film On the Arm and has performed in numerous theatrical productions.

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