Episode 33: Benito Cereno

This week, we begin our three-part Melville spectacular with our friend, comrade, and very first guest host, Peter Coviello, Professor of American literature at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Pete is a scholar of Melville, empire, intimacy, and queer theory, and he’s a fellow traveler on the good ship San Dominick where everything is regular and normal! On this episode we shoot the salty sea breeze about Melville’s 1855 novella Benito Cereno, where Melville takes on racism, slavery, imperialism, ding-dong sea captains, and why Very Nice Liberals and tyrannical exploitation are so often bunkmates on the R.M.S. Society. We also get into slave revolts, sentimentality, suspense, boats, religion, spooky skeletons, and a docuseries we made up called “The Dad Definitely Did It,” where who did it is… anybody’s guess! Plus, we chat about a very special barbershop at sea where Cap’n Crunch can get a nice, close shave. We read Benito Cereno in the Pete’s marvelous Penguin Classics edition Billy Budd, Bartleby, and Other Stories. His introduction includes the line “Reader: keep an eye on that dog,” and dives deep into Melville’s brilliance and rage. And it sure did learn us a thing or two about hangings! Also be sure to check out Pete’s terrific essay “The American in Charity: ‘Benito Cereno’ and Gothic Anti-Sentimentality” in Studies in American Fiction. Find us on Twitter and Instagram @betterreadpod, and email us nice things at [email protected]. Find Pete on Twitter @pcoviell, Tristan @tjschweiger, Katie @katiekrywo, and Megan @tuslersaurus.

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