UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 15, Page 7
December 14, 1995
Hershel Parker writes intro for Melville's Pierre

     An edition of the original version of Herman Melville's Pierre,
with a 46-page introduction by Hershel Parker, H. F. Brown Professor
of English, and illustrations by artist Maurice Sendak, provides for
the first time a close approximation of Melville's original novel,
written nearly 150 years ago.
     A noted Melville scholar, Parker is the associate general editor
of The Writings of Herman Melville, published by Northwestern
University Press and The Newberry Library. The first volume of his
definitive biography of Melville is scheduled for publication next
year.
     In the introduction, Parker writes that Melville's original
Pierre is "surely the finest psychological novel anyone had yet
written in English," describing it as a "meticulous case history of an
ignorant idealist, in the guise of an American gothic romance."
     Named the Kraken Edition in reference to a Scandinavian sea
monster reputedly larger than a whale, the new edition of Pierre  has
krakens emblazoned by Sendak on its binding. In writing to his close
friend and fellow writer Nathaniel Hawthorne about Pierre, Melville
called it a kraken of a book, believing it to be more profound than
Moby-Dick.
     In his introduction, Parker sets the scene for the writing and
publication of Pierre, which was completed in its original version in
late 1851, just six weeks after the publication of Moby-Dick.
     He writes of the events that prompted Melville to alter and add
to his original text, turning the main character, Pierre, into an
author.
     During this time, although Melville had high hopes for the
critical and financial success of Moby-Dick, he was disappointed by
the book's reception and sales. The book received harsh reviews from
religious publications, although some British reviewers praised it.
     Because of the criticism and sales, his publishers offered him a
poor, almost demeaning, contract for Pierre. Retaining the manuscript,
Parker wrote, Melville "turned his fear and rage" into new episodes
and additions to the original Pierre manuscript.
     In the later version, Pierre reveals that he was a successful
author as a youth and provides the venue for Melville to satirize the
publishing and literary world.
     The result was not the tightly constructed novel he had
originally written, the book was poorly received, and as Parker
writes, "Pierre  destroyed Melville's career."
     With the revival of interest in Melville in this century, a
renewed appreciation of Pierre, and this original version, illustrated
with " Sendak's provocative and provoking pictures," Parker concludes
"the fate of Pierre might yet be a happy one."
     The new edition of Pierre is published by Harper Collins.
                                                   -Sue Swyers Moncure