Pierre: or, The Ambiguities'Ambiguities indeed! One long brain-muddling, soul-bewildering ambiguity (to borrow Mr. Melville's style), like Melchisedeck, without beginning or end-a labyrinth without a clue - an Irish bog without so much as a Jack o'the'lantern to guide the wanderer's footsteps - the dream of a distempered stomach, disordered by a hasty supper on half-cooked pork chops." So judged the New York Herald when Pierre was first published in 1852, with most contemporary reviewers joining in the general condemnation: 'a dead failure,' 'this crazy rigmarole,' and "a literary mare's nest." Latter-day critics have recognized in the story of Melville's idealistic young hero a corrosive satire of the sentimental-Gothic novel, and a revolutionary foray into modernist literary techniques. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. |
Contents
Introduction | vii |
Suggestions for Further Reading | xxi |
A Note on the Text and Acknowledgments | xxiii |
Pierre Just Emerging from His Teens | 3 |
Love Delight and Alarm | 21 |
The Presentiment and the Verification | 43 |
Retrospective | 67 |
Misgivings and Preparations | 86 |
The Journey and the Pamphlet | 204 |
The Cousins | 216 |
First Night of Their Arrival in the City | 229 |
Young America in Literature | 244 |
Pierre as a Juvenile Author Reconsidered | 257 |
The Church of the Apostles | 265 |
Charlie Millthorpe | 275 |
Pierre Immaturely Attempts a Mature Work Tidings from the Meadows Plinlimmon | 282 |
Isabel and the First Part of the Story of Isabel | 109 |
Intermediate between Pierres Two Interviews with Isabel at the Farmhouse | 128 |
The Second Interview and the Second Part of the Story of Isabel Their Immediate Impulsive Effect upon Pierre | 143 |
More Light and the Gloom of That Light More Gloom and the Light of That Gloom | 165 |
The Unprecedented Final Resolution of Pierre | 172 |
He Crosses the Rubicon | 182 |
Isabel Mrs Glendinning the Portrait and Lucy | 188 |
They Depart the Meadows | 201 |
The FlowerCurtain Lifted from before a Tropical Author with Some Remarks on the Transcendental FleshBrush Philosophy | 295 |
A Letter for Pierre Isabel Arrival of Lucys Easel and Trunks at the Apostles | 307 |
Lucy at the Apostles | 322 |
Lucy Isabel and Pierre Pierre at His Book Enceladus | 330 |
A Walk a Foreign Portrait a Sail And the End | 348 |
Explanatory Notes | 363 |
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Common terms and phrases
angel Apostles aunt beautiful beneath brother called chamber Charlotte Temple conceit Confidence-Man cousin Ralph cried Pierre Curaçoa dark dear Pierre Delly door earth Enceladus entirely Ephesian matron eternally eyes face Falsgrave Fate father feel felt gazed gentleman girl glance Glen grand old Pierre Greek mythology grief guitar hand hath heard heart heaven heavenly Herman Melville hour human infinite Isabel knew lady letter light little Pierre look Lucy Tartan Lucy's manorial Melville Melville's Memnon Millthorpe mind Moby-Dick mood morning mother Muggletonians mystery mystical never night Omoo once painting Pantheism Pierre Glendinning Pierre's Plinlimmon Plotinus portrait possible present round Saddle Meadows secret seemed silent sister sort soul speak stand stood story strange suddenly sweet tell thee thing thou art thou hast thought truth turned Ulver White-Jacket wholly wonderful words write young youth