Publisher's Synopsis
Pierre Or The Ambiguities is a novel written by Herman Melville, first published in 1852. The story follows Pierre Glendinning, a young man from a wealthy family who is struggling with his identity and place in the world. Pierre is torn between his love for his half-sister, Isabel, and his obligation to marry Lucy Tartan, a woman chosen by his family. As Pierre navigates his conflicting emotions and societal expectations, he becomes increasingly disillusioned with his privileged upbringing and the hypocrisy of those around him. The novel explores themes of identity, morality, and societal norms, and is known for its complex characters and ambiguous narrative. Melville's writing style is characterized by its poetic language and philosophical musings, which add depth and complexity to the story. Pierre Or The Ambiguities was initially met with mixed reviews and was considered controversial for its exploration of taboo subjects such as incest and adultery. However, it has since become a classic of American literature and is widely regarded as one of Melville's most important works.By some strange arts, Isabel's wonderful story might have been, some way, and for some cause, forged for her, in her childhood, and craftily impressed upon her youthful mind; which so--like a slight mark in a young tree--and now enlargingly grown with her growth, till it had become this immense staring marvel. Tested by any thing real, practical, and reasonable, what less probable, for instance, than that fancied crossing of the sea in her childhood, when upon Pierre's subsequent questioning of her, she did not even know that the sea was salt.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
