The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade
Onboard the Fidèle, a steamboat floating down the Mississippi to New Orleans, a confidence man sets out to defraud his fellow passengers. In quick succession he assumes numerous guises - from a legless beggar and a worldly businessman to a collector for charitable causes and a 'cosmopolitan' gentleman, who simply swindles a barber out of the price of a shave. Making very little from his hoaxes, the pleasure of trickery seems an end in itself for this slippery conman. Is he the Devil? Is his chicanery merely intended to expose the mercenary concerns of those around him? Set on April Fool's Day, The Confidence-Man (1857) is an engaging comedy of masquerades, digressions and shifting identity, and a devastating satire on the American dream.
Herman Melville was a prominent author during the historic American Renaissance period. Melville was a prolific writer who produced classics in many different genres including Moby Dick, Typee, and Benito Cereno. The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade is a novel that centers around a group of steamboat passengers who are traveling down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. The book is also notable for being set on April Fool's Day.
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