Babo’s Heterochronic Creativity

Abstract

This essay examines the complex relations among multiple temporalities, including linear progressive time, recursive time, and messianic time, in Melville’s novella, “Benito Cereno.” I argue that Babo possesses an unusual type of intelligence, which I call “heterochronic creativity,” that enables him to recognize and manipulate other people’s temporal orientations (their beliefs about how time is experienced) in order to gain power. However, Babo’s temporal artistry does not guarantee freedom because it does not survive the encounter with the standardized time requisite to navigating at sea. Instead, the violent conflict at the conclusion of the novella’s first section produces a messianic temporality that Melville distinguishes from Christian eschatology and links instead to Islam. This islamicist time cannot be realized in the novella, but Melville exploits the longstanding association of American islamicism with prophetic projection to envision a future time when the problem of slavery might be differently resolved.