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Pierre, or the Ambiguities: Volume Seven, Scholarly Edition
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Pierre, or the Ambiguities: Volume Seven, Scholarly Edition Hardcover - 1972 - 1st Edition

by Herman Melville; Harrison Hayford (Editor); G. Thomas Tanselle (Editor)


Summary

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.

From the publisher

Initially dismissed as a dead failure and a bad book, and declined by Melville's British publisher, Pierre, or The Ambiguities has since struck critics as modern in its psychological probings and literary technique--fit, as Carl Van Vechten said in 1922, to be ranked with The Golden Bowl, Women in Love, and Ulysses. None of Melville's other secondary works has so regularly been acknowledged by its most thorough critics as a work of genuine grandeur, however flawed. This scholarly edition aims to present a text as close to the author's intention as the surviving evidence permits. Based on collations of the two issues and the two impressions of the single edition publishing in Melville's lifetime, it incorporates necessary emendations made by the series editors. This text of Pierre is an Approved Text of the Center for Editions of American Authors (Modern Language Association of America).

Details

  • Title Pierre, or the Ambiguities: Volume Seven, Scholarly Edition
  • Author Herman Melville; Harrison Hayford (Editor); G. Thomas Tanselle (Editor)
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition number 1st
  • Edition 1
  • Pages 435
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Northwestern University Press, Evanston
  • Date February 1, 1972
  • ISBN 9780810102668 / 0810102668
  • Weight 2.1 lbs (0.95 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.5 x 6.6 x 1.4 in (24.13 x 16.76 x 3.56 cm)
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 72179121
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

About the author

HERMAN MELVILLE (1819-1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick. His first three books gained much contemporary attention (the first, Typee, becoming a bestseller), and after a fast-blooming literary success in the late 1840s, his popularity declined precipitously in the mid-1850s and never recovered during his lifetime. When he died in 1891, he was almost completely forgotten. It was not until the "Melville Revival" in the early 20th century that his work won recognition, especially Moby-Dick, which was hailed as one of the literary masterpieces of both American and world literature. He was the first writer to have his works collected and published by the Library of America.

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Pierre, or The Ambiguities (The Writings of Herman Melville: The Northwestern-Newberry Edition,...
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Pierre, or The Ambiguities (The Writings of Herman Melville: The Northwestern-Newberry Edition, V. 7)

by Melville, Herman

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Hardcover
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Northwestern University Press, 1972-02-01. hardcover. Used; Like New/Very Good. 6x1x9. Evanston, 1972; black cloth covered boards; bottom front corner slightly bumped; text block edges slightly foxed; off-white jacket with mild shelf wear, bottom front corner wrinkled, back strip shelf darkened and housed in a Bro-Dart like cover; 8vo, 7 3/4" to 9 3/4" tall; From the library of retired ABAA bookseller, Tom Nicely; interior is clean and unmarked; 435 pages. Additional shipping charges may need to be requested due to size or weight of book.
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Pierre, or the Ambiguities

Pierre, or the Ambiguities

by Herman Melville

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  • Hardcover
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Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780810102668 / 0810102668
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Northwestern University Press, 1972. Hardcover. Acceptable. Disclaimer:A readable copy. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact. Pages can include considerable notes-in pen or highlighter-but the notes cannot obscure the text. At ThriftBooks, our motto is: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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Pierre, or the Ambiguities : Volume Seven, Scholarly Edition
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Pierre, or the Ambiguities : Volume Seven, Scholarly Edition

by Melville, Herman

  • Used
Condition
Used - Good
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780810102668 / 0810102668
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Northwestern University Press. Used - Good. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages.
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Pierre or The Ambiguities
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Pierre or The Ambiguities

by Melville, Herman

  • Used
  • good
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
Condition
Used - Good
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780810102668 / 0810102668
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Northwestern University Press, 1972. Hardcover in good condition. Signed by Hershel Parker, Assistant General Editor. Small stain on the bottom right hand corner of the pages. Stain only goes about a 1/4 of an inch into the pages, if that. It is mainly visible only from the bottom of the book. The page edges do have a little bit of light foxing as well. Other than that, the book is pretty nice. The binding is intact and tight and we did not find any markings in the book other than a name on the front end page. No dust jacket. Name on fro. Signed by Author(s). Hardcover. Good.
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