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3.19 AVERAGE
3.19 AVERAGE
I taught this in my summer American Renaissance course. This was also my first time reading this particular Melville story. Having read Moby Dick and "Bartleby," I knew I was in for a treat. I've always thought Melville was ahead of his time, and that, had he been born perhaps 20 years later, his writing maybe would've commanded the kind of respect it deserved from readers. Alas, he was not so lucky.
Anywho, "Benito Cereno" is an exciting text to teach because it offers so much classic Melvillean themes and tropes. There is certainly a lot of racial ambivalence here, anxieties over whiteness, slavery, classic good vs. evil, ships at sea, moody atmospheres, homoeroticism, etc. Then of course, there's a great twist and it's not the twist you think it is. By the end, you the reader are left questioning everything. Classic Melville. That's probably why people hated him. LOL. "How dare you make me think too hard?"
Anywho, "Benito Cereno" is an exciting text to teach because it offers so much classic Melvillean themes and tropes. There is certainly a lot of racial ambivalence here, anxieties over whiteness, slavery, classic good vs. evil, ships at sea, moody atmospheres, homoeroticism, etc. Then of course, there's a great twist and it's not the twist you think it is. By the end, you the reader are left questioning everything. Classic Melville. That's probably why people hated him. LOL. "How dare you make me think too hard?"
Took a little bit to get going, but a great, tense, suspenseful read. Racial tensions are, of course, present (this was written in 1855), but there's plenty of ambiguity.
This is a tricky book to rate. In some ways it seems explicitly racist and at other times seems the exact opposite. Also, the first half is a sort of mystery and the second half is sort of a meta-examination of the first.
It's a confounding text and I don't really know what to think of it. In regard to race: I've always read Melville as being more generous to minority groups than many and so I'm inclined to think this is more a tale of mutiny without any real regard to race. The africans are given in a less than kind light, but that's because of the context, where the imperialists cannot even begin to understand the motives of the slaves and so their otherness makes them seem dangerous and frightening.
I don't know. I quite like it and the structural trick is very interesting. It's split into two distinct parts, with the first being a very 19th century piece and the second part being an almost postmodern examination of the first.
Part of me wants to give it five stars and part of me wants to give it three because I'm not sure how successful it is at everything it attempts, but I think I'll go with a conservative four and make up my mind later.
It's a confounding text and I don't really know what to think of it. In regard to race: I've always read Melville as being more generous to minority groups than many and so I'm inclined to think this is more a tale of mutiny without any real regard to race. The africans are given in a less than kind light, but that's because of the context, where the imperialists cannot even begin to understand the motives of the slaves and so their otherness makes them seem dangerous and frightening.
I don't know. I quite like it and the structural trick is very interesting. It's split into two distinct parts, with the first being a very 19th century piece and the second part being an almost postmodern examination of the first.
Part of me wants to give it five stars and part of me wants to give it three because I'm not sure how successful it is at everything it attempts, but I think I'll go with a conservative four and make up my mind later.
challenging
informative
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This tale starts a little slowly, but quickly becomes as suspenseful as any modern-day horror movie - though instead of hoping a dim-witted teenage girl will see sense and not go inside the house on her own, you instead wish Captain Delano would trust his gut feelings and just get off that ship. This not-so-short story is very much a product of its time in terms of how it deals with slavery and its descriptions of 'the blacks' versus 'the whites', which makes for uncomfortable reading. However, the most uncomfortable part was when I realised that .
Spoiler
the story is in fact true
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced