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Herman Melville's Benito Cereno Reading Group [Durham, NC]
**This course is in-person only. There is no virtual component. Participants must be age 21+
Full Tuition: $120 — Sliding-scale tuition options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select. To pay in installments, choose PayPal at check out.
Instructor: Lindsey Andrews | 2-weeks | Sundays | December 7 and 14 | 7:00-9:00 PM | 719 N Mangum St, Durham, NC
Clandestine revolts and invisible resistance pervade the history of freedom struggles. Herman Melville’s 1855 novella Benito Cereno offers a fictional account that draws on the real-life story of La Amistad—a slave ship overtaken by its captives—to explore questions about political visibility, invisible struggle, and the limits of law. It is a novella about the comforting stories that those in power tell themselves, and the cunning of resistance that emerges in the spaces they refuse to see. Benito Cereno asks us to see what our main character, Captain Amasa Delano, cannot. We’re asked to question the voices of both authority and authorship as we, the readers, decode the actions on board the ship. Both a mystery novel and a political treatise, Benito Cereno remains one of the finest works of 19th century fiction. It became a literary touchstone for interpretations of the Haitian Revolution, and a quote from it even served as the epigraph to Ralph Ellison’s 1952 Invisible Man. Across two sessions, we’ll read the work closely and discuss the nature of perception, the history of race and racism, and the possibilities of justice under the law. Read this influential novella in community to get the most out of it!
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This class will take place in person at Night School Bar in Durham. Night School requires that students refrain from attending in-person classes when sick. For more on our class policies, see our FAQ. Instructors will also follow this policy. If your instructor is sick, class may be moved to online for a session or rescheduled to the week following the final scheduled session at the instructor’s discretion.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage. We ask that people who make above the living wage threshold for their area strongly consider choosing the full-tuition or mid-level tuition tier in order to support our own living wage program. For Durham, NC, where we are located, the living wage threshold is $49,000 for an individual. All scholarship needs are self-assessed, and we will never request or require proof of need.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month. Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly one week before class begins, and we will let you know if additional scholarships are available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
**This course is in-person only. There is no virtual component. Participants must be age 21+
Full Tuition: $120 — Sliding-scale tuition options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select. To pay in installments, choose PayPal at check out.
Instructor: Lindsey Andrews | 2-weeks | Sundays | December 7 and 14 | 7:00-9:00 PM | 719 N Mangum St, Durham, NC
Clandestine revolts and invisible resistance pervade the history of freedom struggles. Herman Melville’s 1855 novella Benito Cereno offers a fictional account that draws on the real-life story of La Amistad—a slave ship overtaken by its captives—to explore questions about political visibility, invisible struggle, and the limits of law. It is a novella about the comforting stories that those in power tell themselves, and the cunning of resistance that emerges in the spaces they refuse to see. Benito Cereno asks us to see what our main character, Captain Amasa Delano, cannot. We’re asked to question the voices of both authority and authorship as we, the readers, decode the actions on board the ship. Both a mystery novel and a political treatise, Benito Cereno remains one of the finest works of 19th century fiction. It became a literary touchstone for interpretations of the Haitian Revolution, and a quote from it even served as the epigraph to Ralph Ellison’s 1952 Invisible Man. Across two sessions, we’ll read the work closely and discuss the nature of perception, the history of race and racism, and the possibilities of justice under the law. Read this influential novella in community to get the most out of it!
—
This class will take place in person at Night School Bar in Durham. Night School requires that students refrain from attending in-person classes when sick. For more on our class policies, see our FAQ. Instructors will also follow this policy. If your instructor is sick, class may be moved to online for a session or rescheduled to the week following the final scheduled session at the instructor’s discretion.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage. We ask that people who make above the living wage threshold for their area strongly consider choosing the full-tuition or mid-level tuition tier in order to support our own living wage program. For Durham, NC, where we are located, the living wage threshold is $49,000 for an individual. All scholarship needs are self-assessed, and we will never request or require proof of need.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month. Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly one week before class begins, and we will let you know if additional scholarships are available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.