Front cover image for Reading Melville's Pierre ; or, The ambiguities

Reading Melville's Pierre ; or, The ambiguities

This engaging new study uses biographical evidence to explore Pierre, the puzzling novel that Herman Melville wrote immediately after the publication of Moby-Dick. Parker and Higgins reveal that Melville drastically altered the end of the novel after a troubling meeting with his publisher and editor about the perceived failure of Moby-Dick. Melville re-wrote Pierre's protagonist as a writer and used the novel to attack the publishing industry. Parker and Higgins' exploration into Pierre shows that this is a deeply flawed novel, but an intriguing and revealing glimpse into the mind of an Americ
eBook, English, ©2006
Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, ©2006
1 online resource (ix, 224 pages)
9780807135686, 0807135682
614564124
Contents; Preface; 1. Toward a Kraken Book; 2. "This dream-house of the earth":Books I and II; 3. "The flowing river in the cave of man":Books IIIV; 4. "The manly enthusiast cause":Books VIXII; 5. The Pamphlet and the City:The Kraken Ending; 6. Cobbling the Harper Pierre:JanuaryFebruary 1852; 7. Aftermath; 8. Faltering Recognition; Works Cited; Index