Benito Cereno (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Herman Melville
- First Published: 1855
- Type of Work: Short story
- Genres: Long fiction, Adventure, Sea story
- Subjects: Murder or homicide, Slavery or slaves, Eighteenth century, Ships, Sailing or sailors, Sea or seafaring life, Adventure, Diseases, South America or South Americans, Peru or Peruvians, Harbors, Mutiny
- Locales: Lima, Peru, Chile
Melville's story “Benito Cereno” was originally published serially in three parts. There is some indication that he considered making it into a novel but was discouraged by his potential publisher. Melville drew much of his material from Amaso Delano's A Narrative of Voyages and Travels in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres (1817); in fact, much of the court deposition material is transcribed exactly from the original.
The story is set in August of 1799 off the coast of Chile, where the “singularly undistrustful” captain of an American sealer, Bachelor's...
[The entire page is 974 words long]
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