Herman Melville's Pierre; or. The Ambiguities has a storied place in the history of American publishing. Melville began writing this follow-up to Moby-Dick in October 1851, thinking that it might prove even more significant than its predecessor. The 1852 publication of Pierre was catastrophic, however. Melville lost his English publisher, and American reviewers derided the book and called the author mad. InReading Melville's "Pierre; or, The Ambiguities," noted Melville authorities Brian Higgins and Hershel Parker probe the daunting story behind a deeply flawed but revealing work, one that directly reflects the major crisis of Melville's authorial life. Weighed down by huge debts, Melville took the manuscript of Pierre to his New York publisher, Harper and Brothers, desperately needing the new work to be a financial success. The Harpers balked at publishing such a dangerous psychological novel (incest was a theme) and offered him less than half the royalties they had paid for his previous books. The anguished Melville accepted the contract but subsequently added new passages to his manuscript -- passages that disparage the publishing industry and reflect his agony at the looming loss of his career. Higgins and Parker examine what can plausibly be reconstructed of Melville's original version of Pierreand explore the consequences of his belated decision to expand his work, showing in detail how his hastily written and awkwardly inserted additions marred much of what he had brilliantly achieved in the shorter version. They demonstrate that to understand Pierre, and Melville himself at this crisis, one must first understand the compositional history that resulted in the book as published. Setting Pierre in the context of Melville's literary life, Higgins and Parker's study is an illuminating demonstration of biographical and textual scholarship by two of the field's finest practitioners.

Reading Melville's Pierre; or, The Ambiguities (Southern Literary Studies)

Biographies & Memoirs

Parker, Hershel

Higgins, Brian

Arts & Literature

LSU Press

This volume in the distinguished series contains both a sizable gathering of early reviews and a broad selection of more modern scholarship as well. Among the authors of reprinted articles are Virginia Woolf, Carl Van Doren, Van Wyck Brooks, D.H. Lawrence, and Leon Howard. In addition to a substantial introduction, there are also three newly commissioned essays--by John Wenke, David S. Reynolds, and Hershel Parker.

Critical Essays on Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (Critical Essays on American Literature)

Literature & Fiction

United States

G.K. Hall

ABOUT THIS BOOK:  Here is a wealth of critical comment about the novel Pierre, one of Melville's most notorious and controversial works. Dubbed "The Most Impossible of All His Books" (Julian Hawthorne), Pierre has eventually come to be regarded as a complex and multi-valenced book -- one that perhaps reveals more about Melville than any other.   This book begins with 35 early book reviews. Then there are about 200 pages of articles and essays on Pierre organized into 3 categories: Neglect and Abuse 1853-1917, Discovery 1919-1929, and Modern Criticism. Major commentators appear here alongside some obscure and largely forgotten sources.    BOOK DETAILS:  Sturdy two-cloth hardback sewn binding; 271 pp. Indexed.

Critical Essays on Herman Melville's Pierre, Or, the Ambiguities (Critical Essays on American Literature)

History & Criticism

Herman Melville: A Reference Guide 1931-1960 by Higgins, Brian

Herman Melville: A Reference Guide, 1931-1960 (A Reference Guide to Literature)

Practical packaging techniques within the bigger business picture Strategies linking packaging to company growth For packaging industry decision makers: executives, managers, designers and developers
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Creating Value Through Packaging: Unlocking a New Business and Management Strategy

Engineering & Transportation

Peters, Jim

Richmond, Michael, Ph.D.

Engineering

Destech Pubns Inc

Quiet Lamb

Children's Books

Animals

Independently published

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