Search -
Melville's Benito Cereno : A Text for Guided Research
Melville's Benito Cereno A Text for Guided Research Author:John P. Runden "Benito Cereno," the novella-story that has alternatedly been called a "masterpiece," a "miscarriage," and an "exercise in dramatic irony," can now be explored in its fullest context through this research text. — The text, reprinted in its latest authoritative form from the "Piazza Tales" of 1856, has glossary notes for nautical and specialized t... more »erms and an appendix showing Melville's probable changes from an earlier printing.
The sources of the tale are given ample presentation, including extensive reprinting from the original source, "A Narrative of Voyages" ... by the real Captain Amasa Delano.
Criticism has been selected to show briefly the range of controversy surrounding "Benito Cereno," and to explore in some depth the major problems of symbolism, dramatic irony, and the slavery issue.« less