Benito Cereno - Herman Melville

Benito Cereno - Herman Melville

Letteratura universale Marsilio - Frecce - Italian Parallel Text

Edited by Luigi Ballerini

Paperback, 416 pages

Each volume in this series presents a classic of American literature with a new Italian translation on the facing page, as well as an extensive introduction, information about the text and the author, in-depth annotations, and a complete bibliography, all in Italian.

Off the coast of Chile on one gray day in 1799, the sky filled with shadows "foreshadowing deeper shadows to come", captain Amasa Delano of the Bachelor's Delight, a Massachusetts sealer and trading ship, sees the Spanish vessel San Dominick in seeming distress. With some supplies he steps in his boat "The Rover" and boards the San Dominick, which carries a cargo of slaves, including women and children. He notes the figurehead, which is mostly concealed by a tarpaulin revealing only the inscription: "Follow your leaders and the fate of the slaves' master, Alexandro Aranda, who Cereno claims took fever aboard the ship and died. He sends his men back to bring more food and water, and stays aboard in the company of its Spanish captain, Don Benito Cereno and his Senegalese servant Babo who never leaves him alone. Don Benito’s timidness and the wild behavior of the slaves confuse Delano. The San Dominick, Cereno informs him, is on a voyage from Buenos Aires to Lima with three hundred slaves and a crew of fifty Spaniards, but storms and diseases have decimated the crew. Cereno is constantly attended to by his personal slave, Babo, whom Cereno keeps in close company even when Delano suggests that Babo leave the two in private to discuss matters that are clearly being avoided. Delano, however, does not bother Cereno to ask questions about the odd superficiality of their conversation Delano, who appreciates Babo’s faithful care for his master, offers to help out by letting three of his own men assist in bringing the ship to Concepcion.

-

Ciascun volume di questa collana si presenta come una monografia completa composta da un saggio introduttivo, una nuova traduzione con testo a fronte, note informative sull'autore e sull'opera, un commento essenziale, una ricca bibliografia.

Una storia di mare e di schiavitù, pervasa da foschi timori per una umanità alla deriva, per la sorte che attende lo schiavo come il padrone. In Benito Cereno Herman Melville attraversa, prima di Joseph Conrad, la zona d’ombra della coscienza occidentale affidandosi all’esile trama degli ultimi giorni di un ammutinamento, indugiando sulla ferocia dell’oppresso e, ancor più, sul grigiore dell’apatia o della cecità dell’oppressore. In un crescendo di tensione mai risolta tra il bene e il male, nella premonizione dell’insufficienza della giustizia terrena. Melville sfida il lettore a immergersi in un «labirinto di senso», come scrive Luigi Ballerini nell’introduzione a questo capolavoro, da lui curato e tradotto con straordinaria maestria, consapevole delle ambiguità e degli splendori della prosa melvilliana.