Pierre; or, The Ambiguities

by Herman Melville

Overview

Perhaps Melville’s most difficult and wildly textured work, “Pierre; or, The Ambiguities”, to this day evades easy categorization or critical interpretation. Now seen as an ambitious foray into proto-modernist composition, the text was initially met with utter consternation and was a commercial failure. Published a year after “Moby Dick”, this novel tracks the nineteen year old Pierre Glendinning through his life in New York City as a fledgling novelist. Mr. Melville himself can be seen in the melodramatic life of Pierre. Wrestling with the literary trends of transcendentalism that pervaded his day, the novel, on some level, also parodies the gothic tradition of grand morality. But it is this morality that is brought into focus, scrutinizing it only as Melville can. Spoken of as “word piled upon word, and syllable heaped upon syllable, until the tongue grows as bewildered as the mind, and both refuse to perform their offices from sheer inability to grasp the magnitude of the absurdities...”, the torrential dismay that this novel was met with now sounds like the unknown beginnings of a revolution. Experimental and without reservations, “Pierre” will remain a glowing oddity of American literature. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781420980257
Publisher:	Digireads.com Publishing
Publication date:	12/11/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Herman Melville (1819–1891) found early success with stories inspired by his adventures in the South Seas. His fortunes declined with the 1851 publication of Moby-Dick, now recognized as a masterpiece but scorned by Melville's contemporaries. The author was obliged to work as a New York City customs inspector and died in obscurity, three decades before the critical reassessment of his work.

Date of Birth:

August 1, 1819

Date of Death:

September 28, 1891

Place of Birth:

New York, New York

Place of Death:

New York, New York

Education:

Attended the Albany Academy in Albany, New York, until age 15

Table of Contents

I.PIERRE JUST EMERGING FROM HIS TEENS
II. LOVE, DELIGHT, AND ALARM
III. THE PRESENTIMENT AND THE VERIFICATION
IV. RETROSPECTIVE
V. MISGIVINGS AND PREPARATIVES
VI. ISABEL, AND THE FIRST PART OF THE STORY OF ISABEL
VII. INTERMEDIATE BETWEEN PIERRE'S TWO INTERVIEWS WITH ISABEL AT THE FARM-HOUSE
VIII. THE SECOND INTERVIEW, AND THE SECOND PART OF THE STORY OF ISABEL. THEIR IMMEDIATE IMPULSIVE EFFECT UPON PIERRE
IX. MORE LIGHT, AND THE GLOOM OF THAT LIGHT. MORE GLOOM, AND THE LIGHT OF THAT GLOOM
X. THE UNPRECEDENTED FINAL RESOLUTION OF PIERRE
XI. HE CROSSES THE RUBICON
XII. ISABEL, MRS. GLENDINNING, THE PORTRAIT, AND LUCY
XIII. THEY DEPART THE MEADOWS
XIV.THE JOURNEY AND THE PAMPHLET
XV. THE COUSINS
XVI. FIRST NIGHT OF THEIR ARRIVAL IN THE CITY
XVII. YOUNG AMERICA IN LITERATURE
XVIII. PIERRE, AS A JUVENILE AUTHOR, RECONSIDERED
XIX. THE CHURCH OF THE APOSTLES
XX. CHARLIE MILLTHORPE
XXI. PIERRE IMMATURELY ATTEMPTS A MATURE BOOK. TIDINGS FROM THE MEADOWS. PLINLIMMON
XXII. THE FLOWER-CURTAIN LIFTED FROM BEFORE A TROPICAL AUTHOR; WITH SOME REMARKS ON THE TRANSCENDENTAL FLESH-BRUSH PHILOSOPHY 
XXIII. LETTER FOR PIERRE. ISABEL. ARRIVAL OF LUCY'S EASEL AND TRUNKS AT THE APOSTLES'
XXIV. LUCY AT THE APOSTLES'
XXV. LUCY, ISABEL, AND PIERRE. PIERRE AT HIS BOOK. ENCELADUS
XXVI. A WALK; A FOREIGN PORTRAIT; A SAIL. AND THE END