Herman Melville August 19 1819 September 28 1891

Herman Melville (August 19 1819 - September 28 1891) n n n Melville’s Life and Works The “True” Tale of Benito Cereno: Captain Amasa Delano’s Narrative of Voyages and Travels (1817) The Voyage of the Tryal / San Dominick Melville’s Benito Cereno (1855) Problems of Reading Benito Cereno

Melville’s Life and Works (1) n n Born in New York to an affluent (but not wealthy) family. [1819] Father dies, leaving family in debt. [1831] Starts a maritime life on a voyage to Liverpool, then joins a whaling ship. [1839 -1841] Jumps ship [1842], but travels around Tahiti and Honolulu. Melville (in 1860)

Melville’s Life and Works (2) n n n n n Returns to Boston. [1844] Marries Elizabeth Shaw [1847] Malcolm born [1849] Moves to Pittsfield [1850] Stanwix born [1851] Elizabeth born [1853] Frances born [1855] Trip to Liverpool [1856 -57] Lectures around the US [185760] § § § § § Typee [1846] Omoo [1847] Mardi and Redburn [1849] White-Jacket [1850] Moby Dick [1851] Pierre [1852] The Isle of the Cross [1853] Israel Potter [1855] The Piazza Tales [1856] The Confidence Man [1857] § [Primarily shifts to poetry]

The “True” Tale of Benito Cereno: Captain Amasa Delano’s Voyages (1817) From inside cover of Voyages n Wrote the account in ch. XVIII of the Voyages to defend his actions concerning the Tryal. n Used logs from his ship, the Perseverance, legal depositions, and official documents to reinforce his case against Don Benito Cereno.

The Voyage of the Tryal / San Dominick (1) Journey of Tryal (intended by Benito Cereno) Nasca Valparaiso Concepción

The Voyage of the Tryal / San Dominick (2) Nasca Valparaiso Concepción Related Journey of Tryal by Benito Cereno (under duress)

The Voyage of the Tryal / San Dominick (3) Nasca Valparaiso Concepción Journey of Tryal (intended by slaves)

Melville’s Benito Cereno (1855) n n Published anonymously in 1855 in Putnam’s Monthly Magazine over three issues (October to December). Published to assuage Melville’s fears of bringing in no money for his family. Re-published in Melville’s The Piazza Tales in 1856. Story was mostly ignored; the link between Benito Cereno and Delano’s Voyages was only discovered in 1928 [by Scudder].

Melville’s Benito Cereno (1855): Changes to the Voyages (1) St. Maria – “a small, desert, uninhabited island toward the southern extremity of the long coast of Chili” (Benito Cereno, 2405 / 2372). Note in Scudder, however: “in the vicinity of the port of Talcahuano” (530) and “the neighbouring coast of Arruco [Arauco]” (516).

Melville’s Benito Cereno (1855): Changes to the Voyages (2) n n n The date of the action moves from February 1805 to August 1799. [Scudder says this is accidental, Franklin says it is deliberate. ] Don Aranda is no longer thrown overboard; he is stripped of his flesh and mounted as a skeleton on the prow over the message “Seguid vuestro jefe” – “Follow your leader. ” Benito Cereno is no longer responsible for trying to stab the slave; instead it is Bartholomew Barlo, a fictional sailor [see Benito Cereno 2425].

Melville’s Benito Cereno (1855): Changes to the Voyages (3) n n Although Captain Delano originally boarded the ship to make a profit, this has become a minor issue in comparison to his saving of the ship. Melville also omits the argument the two men had over salvage rights. Most of the descriptions of the Spanish ship… [For more details on the changes, see Franklin 529 -31 and Lea Newman’s A Reader’s Guide to the Short Stories of Herman Melville. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1986. 98 -100. ]

Melville’s Benito Cereno (1855): Themes n Religious Concerns n n Racial & National Tensions n n n Protestant vs. Catholic Black vs. White American vs. Spanish Study of “Power Dynamics” n n n Babo / Captain Benito Cereno / Captain Amasa Delano / his crew

Problems of Reading Benito Cereno Herman Melville Captain Amasa The Narrator Captain Benito. Delano Cereno

Problems of Reading Benito Cereno n Secrets of Benito Cereno n Benito Cereno as a Game of Chess Text (noun): 2 b. The very words and sentences as originally written: […] the body of any treatise, the authoritative or formal part as distinguished from notes, appendices, introduction, and other explanatory or supplementary matter. […] L. textus (u-stem) style, tissue of a literary work (Quintilian), lit. that which is woven, web, texture, f. text-, ppl. stem of tex- re to weave. ] (OED) n Unpicking Benito Cereno n Splitting Benito Cereno