"Benito Cereno"--Herman Melville
What might I say to encourage and every one of you to go and seek out the marvelous little story? Well to start, it's by Herman Melville, and if there were ever disincentive to an act, I'm sure that name is it. But in charity, let us avert our eyes from the educational system that taught us this aversive behavior and say that there is always time to recover from early traumas. Give him time and undivided attention, and Herman Melville will repay you--often in the form of a story like no other.
And, this story is it. The difficulty is how to entice without revealing too much? Perhaps a description--take "The Fall of the House of Usher," strip it of its lovely excesses, bathe it in a briny solution for an hour or two, flip it on its head, and voila, "Bentio Cereno."
Not helpful, you say. And you're right. So, what if you take Treasure Island, strand it in the doldrums, have a desert island with a thousand axe-wielding Fridays. . . okay, I admit a rhetorical flourish, an exaggeration. But what is one to do?
You've read (I flatter myself, perhaps I should say, you may read) a bit of the prose in a post earlier in the day, and to that I have only to add that this is story-telling of the highest caliber. It recounts in three short sections two antipodean horrors and ends with an ambiguous resolution revolving around a single statement of Don Benito himself, "The negro." Is it singular? Is it plural? Given the dual horrors of the story, does it matter? But now you must find "Benito Cereno" and read it yourself and unravel the deep mysteries of storytelling that results in so fine a tale. When you've done so, please return here and tell me how I might produce such a fine work. It's the least you could do considering I was the one who set you on the path to enlightenment.
And, this story is it. The difficulty is how to entice without revealing too much? Perhaps a description--take "The Fall of the House of Usher," strip it of its lovely excesses, bathe it in a briny solution for an hour or two, flip it on its head, and voila, "Bentio Cereno."
Not helpful, you say. And you're right. So, what if you take Treasure Island, strand it in the doldrums, have a desert island with a thousand axe-wielding Fridays. . . okay, I admit a rhetorical flourish, an exaggeration. But what is one to do?
You've read (I flatter myself, perhaps I should say, you may read) a bit of the prose in a post earlier in the day, and to that I have only to add that this is story-telling of the highest caliber. It recounts in three short sections two antipodean horrors and ends with an ambiguous resolution revolving around a single statement of Don Benito himself, "The negro." Is it singular? Is it plural? Given the dual horrors of the story, does it matter? But now you must find "Benito Cereno" and read it yourself and unravel the deep mysteries of storytelling that results in so fine a tale. When you've done so, please return here and tell me how I might produce such a fine work. It's the least you could do considering I was the one who set you on the path to enlightenment.
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