The Confidence-man: His Masquerade

"The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade" is the 1857 novel of Herman Melville which tells the interlocking stories of a group of travelers aboard a steamboat on the Mississippi River making their way toward New Orleans. The novel, which emulates the style of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," centers on its title character, the Confidence-Man, a mysterious figure who sneaks aboard the steamboat and successively tests the confidence of the passengers. In so doing the masquerades of the passengers are exposed and their true natures are revealed. A satirical and allegorical set of tales, "The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade" is a rich exposition on the nature of human identity set against the vivid imagery of the Mississippi riverboat era.