The Confidence-Man His Masquerade

Herman Melville's last major novel is a cynical allegory taking place on a Mississippi riverboat on April Fool's Day as it travels toward New Orleans. It portrays a group of passengers - including several satires of 19th-century literary greats - and their reactions to the central character, an ambiguous stranger who sneaks aboard and tests their confidence. King of a world without principle, he capitalizes on false hopes and offers false pity.