“Benito Cereno” In Its Context: An Examination of Putnam’s Monthly Readers In 1855, “Benito Cereno” was serialized and Melville chose to submit and have his story published in Putnam’s Monthly. It appears in the October, November, and December 1855 issues.
Your task is as follows: Browse the three issues of Putnam’s. Look not only at “Benito Cereno,” but also the other articles in each issue. What are the topics? How do you characterize the opinions and/or reviews? Your goal is to be able to put forth some kind of argument about the audience of Putnam’s Monthly. Given whatis being read, can you make any generalizations about the values or beliefs of Putnam readers? Who is reading? Use specific evidence from the text(s) – at least three other articles from the issues – to support your point. Your response should be anywhere from 2-3 pages long.
