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Pierre; or, The Ambiguities

English BooksWhale Edition by Herman Melville

Melville’s dark, experimental novel of inheritance, identity, secrecy, and moral confusion.

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Pierre; or, The Ambiguities

Pierre; or, The Ambiguities follows a young heir drawn into family secrets, forbidden loyalties, and literary ambition. Melville turns romance into psychological and philosophical crisis, producing one of the strangest and most daring American novels of the nineteenth century.

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Herman Melville died in 1891, and Pierre; or, The Ambiguities was first published in 1852, supporting the public-domain basis for this English original edition.

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Pierre; or, The Ambiguities

Herman Melville

TO

Greylock's Most Excellent Majesty.

In old times authors were proud of the privilege of dedicating their works to Majesty. A right noble custom, which we of Berkshire must revive. For whether we will or no, Majesty is all around us here in Berkshire, sitting as in a grand Congress of Vienna of majestical hill-tops, and eternally challenging our homage.

But since the majestic mountain, Greylock--my own more immediate sovereign lord and king--hath now, for innumerable ages, been the one grand dedicatee of the earliest rays of all the Berkshire mornings, I know not how his Imperial Purple Majesty (royal-born: Porphyrogenitus) will receive the dedication of my own poor solitary ray.

Nevertheless, forasmuch as I, dwelling with my loyal neighbors, the Maples and the Beeches, in the amphitheater over which his central majesty presides, have received his most bounteous and unstinted fertilizations, it is but meet, that I here devoutly kneel, and render up my gratitude, whether, thereto, The Most Excellent Purple Majesty of Greylock benignantly incline his hoary crown or no.

_Pittsfield, Mass._

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

Preview chapterENCELADUS BOOK XXVI. A WALK; A FOREIGN PORTRAIT; A SAIL. AND THE ENDPreview

ENCELADUS BOOK XXVI. A WALK; A FOREIGN PORTRAIT; A SAIL. AND THE END

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PIERRE.

Table of contents

Inside this edition

  1. 01Full text
  2. 02ENCELADUS BOOK XXVI. A WALK; A FOREIGN PORTRAIT; A SAIL. AND THE END
  3. 03PIERRE.
  4. 04BOOK I.
  5. 05PIERRE JUST EMERGING FROM HIS TEENS.
  6. 06I.
  7. 07II.
  8. 08III.
  9. 09IV.
  10. 10V.
  11. 11VI.
  12. 12BOOK II.
  13. 13LOVE, DELIGHT, AND ALARM.
  14. 14I.
  15. 15II.
  16. 16III.
  17. 17IV.
  18. 18V.
  19. 19VI.
  20. 20VII.
  21. 21BOOK III.
  22. 22THE PRESENTIMENT AND THE VERIFICATION.
  23. 23I.
  24. 24II.
  25. 25III.
  26. 26IV.
  27. 27V.
  28. 28THY SISTER, ISABEL."
  29. 29VI.
  30. 30BOOK IV.
  31. 31RETROSPECTIVE.
  32. 32I.
  33. 33II.
  34. 34III.
  35. 35IV.
  36. 36V.
  37. 37BOOK V.
  38. 38MISGIVINGS AND PREPARATIONS.
  39. 39I.
  40. 40II.
  41. 41III.
  42. 42IV.
  43. 43V.
  44. 44VI.
  45. 45VII.
  46. 46BOOK VI.
  47. 47ISABEL, AND THE FIRST PART OF THE STORY OF ISABEL.
  48. 48I.
  49. 49II.
  50. 50III.
  51. 51IV.
  52. 52V.
  53. 53VI.
  54. 54BOOK VII.
  55. 55INTERMEDIATE BETWEEN PIERRE'S TWO INTERVIEWS WITH ISABEL AT THE FARM-HOUSE.
  56. 56I.
  57. 57II.
  58. 58III.
  59. 59IV.
  60. 60V.
  61. 61VI.
  62. 62VII.
  63. 63VIII.
  64. 64BOOK VIII.
  65. 65I.
  66. 66II.
  67. 67III.
  68. 68IV.
  69. 69V.
  70. 70VI.
  71. 71VII.
  72. 72BOOK IX.
  73. 73MORE LIGHT, AND THE GLOOM OF THAT LIGHT. MORE GLOOM, AND THE LIGHT OF THAT GLOOM.
  74. 74I.
  75. 75II.
  76. 76III.
  77. 77IV.
  78. 78BOOK X.
  79. 79THE UNPRECEDENTED FINAL RESOLUTION OF PIERRE.
  80. 80I.
  81. 81II.
  82. 82III.
  83. 83BOOK XI.
  84. 84HE CROSSES THE RUBICON
  85. 85I.
  86. 86II.
  87. 87III.
  88. 88IV.
  89. 89BOOK XII.
  90. 90ISABEL: MRS. GLENDINNING: THE PORTRAIT: AND LUCY.
  91. 91I.
  92. 92II.
  93. 93III.
  94. 94IV.
  95. 95BOOK XIII.
  96. 96THEY DEPART THE MEADOWS.
  97. 97I.
  98. 98II.
  99. 99BOOK XIV.
  100. 100THE JOURNEY AND THE PAMPHLET.
  101. 101I.
  102. 102II.
  103. 103III.
  104. 104BY PLOTINUS PLINLIMMON,
  105. 105LECTURE FIRST.
  106. 106CHRONOMETRICALS AND HOROLOGICALS,
  107. 107BOOK XV.
  108. 108THE COUSINS.
  109. 109I.
  110. 110II.
  111. 111III.
  112. 112BOOK XVI.
  113. 113FIRST NIGHT OF THEIR ARRIVAL IN THE CITY.
  114. 114I.
  115. 115II.
  116. 116III.
  117. 117BOOK XVII.
  118. 118YOUNG AMERICA IN LITERATURE.
  119. 119I.
  120. 120"WONDER & WEN."
  121. 121THE COMPLETE WORKS OF GLENDINNING,
  122. 122II.
  123. 123III.
  124. 124BOOK XVIII.
  125. 125PIERRE, AS A JUVENILE AUTHOR, RECONSIDERED.
  126. 126I.
  127. 127II.
  128. 128BOOK XIX.
  129. 129THE CHURCH OF THE APOSTLES.
  130. 130I.
  131. 131II.
  132. 132BOOK XX.
  133. 133CHARLIE MILLTHORPE.
  134. 134I.
  135. 135II.
  136. 136BOOK XXI.
  137. 137PIERRE IMMATURELY ATTEMPTS A MATURE WORK. TIDINGS FROM THE MEADOWS. PLINLIMMON.
  138. 138I.
  139. 139II.
  140. 140III.
  141. 141BOOK XXII.
  142. 142THE FLOWER-CURTAIN LIFTED FROM BEFORE A TROPICAL AUTHOR, WITH SOME REMARKS ON THE TRANSCENDENTAL FLESH-BRUSH PHILOSOPHY.
  143. 143I.
  144. 144II.
  145. 145III.
  146. 146IV.
  147. 147BOOK XXIII.
  148. 148A LETTER FOR PIERRE. ISABEL. ARRIVAL OF LUCY'S EASEL AND TRUNKS AT THE APOSTLES'.
  149. 149I.
  150. 150II.
  151. 151LUCY.
  152. 152III.
  153. 153IV.
  154. 154BOOK XXIV.
  155. 155LUCY AT THE APOSTLES.
  156. 156I.
  157. 157II.
  158. 158III.
  159. 159IV.
  160. 160BOOK XXV.
  161. 161LUCY, ISABEL, AND PIERRE. PIERRE AT HIS BOOK. ENCELADUS.
  162. 162I.
  163. 163II.
  164. 164III.
  165. 165IV.
  166. 166V.
  167. 167BOOK XXVI.
  168. 168A WALK: A FOREIGN PORTRAIT: A SAIL: AND THE END.
  169. 169I.
  170. 170II.
  171. 171III.
  172. 172IV.
  173. 173V.
  174. 174VI.
  175. 175VII.
  176. 176FINIS.

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