Pierre, or The Ambiguities: Volume Seven (Melville)

"HarperCollins has reissued 'Pierre' with a new text produced on a fascinating if perverse editorial theory, with astonishing illustrations by Maurice Sendak...And only by reading this 'Pierre' can we tell if [the editor] is right in his boast that this book, relieved of later interpolations, is a work of extraordinary vision and power...Even if [the] reconstruction of the original 'Pierre' is plausible, we could wonder whether in this case the original is still the greatest. For this reader at least, the chapters...excised are among Melville's most revealing writings: a harrowing reckoning of the meaning of his own career. To the editor who has removed such work, which now won't be known to readers until they consult another edition, I know what I would say: Thanks but no thanks. The trouble is that this edition does have something powerful to recommend it...Mr. Sendak has prepared 30 illustrations, the best of which possess a Blakean visionary authority. Mr. Sendak's illustrations are not mere pictures of the book but a continual commentary on the text that surrounds them: truly, illustrations as interpretations."Herman Melville is the author of 'Pierre, or The Ambiguities: Volume Seven (Melville)', published 1995 under ISBN 9780810114128 and ISBN 0810114127.