1. Herman Melville (August 19 1819 - September 28 1891) 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

2. Melville’s Life and Works (1) 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)

3. Melville’s Life and Works (2) 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 [1857- 60]  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]

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

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

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

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

8. Melville’s Benito Cereno (1855) 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].

9. 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).

10. Melville’s Benito Cereno (1855): Changes to the Voyages (2) 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].

11. Melville’s Benito Cereno (1855): Changes to the Voyages (3) 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.]

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

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

14. Problems of Reading Benito Cereno Secrets of Benito Cereno Benito Cereno as a Game of Chess Unpicking Benito Cereno Splitting Benito Cereno Text (noun): 2b. 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)