B for Bartleby

Melville’s short story is the starting point. “I would prefer not to,” Bartleby’s notorious line, runs like a common thread through the essayistic montage. It connects sequences from Straub and Huillet’s History Lessons (1972) with dialogue between Benedikt Zulauf, who appeared in the Brecht adaptation, and the filmmaker. The making of B for Bartleby fulfils a long-held wish of her late partner, who was terminally ill at the time of production. As ‘essay’ means roughly ‘rehearsal’ in Spanish, B for Bartleby is a reflection on retelling and appropriation of literary material.