Story summary
Краткое содержание: Пьер, или «Неоднозначности»
- Чтение: 8 мин.
- 10 parts
- Аудио скоро
A young heir to a country estate gives up his bride and his home to shelter a stranger he believes is his sister.
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Пьер, или «Неоднозначности» — кратко о книге
Краткое содержание: 8 min на чтение
- Время чтения
- Около 10 h 5 min8 h fast, 12 h slow
- Длительность
- Слов: 143 700
- Уровень в библиотеке
- Сложное чтение long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- Первая публикация
- 1852by Герман Мелвилл
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Сколько времени нужно на чтение классики · Обновлено
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Пьер, или «Неоднозначности» in short
Pierre; or The Ambiguities follows a young man from a golden morning in the country to a bare room in a crowded city. A letter claims that he has a sister. He believes it without proof, and he gives up one comfort after another to protect her and his father's good name.
What Пьер, или «Неоднозначности» is about
What would you give up to do what you believe is right? Pierre Glendinning has a mother who adores him, a fortune, a family name, and a bride who loves him. One letter, delivered on a dark road, puts all of it at risk.
Pierre; or The Ambiguities was written by Herman Melville and published in 1852, after the sea adventures that made his name. It turns a story of young love into a story about conscience, family secrets, and the price of acting on pure ideals. You meet Pierre, his mother, Lucy Tartan, and a dark-eyed stranger named Isabel.
Для кого. This is for readers who love stories of conscience and family secrets, enjoy a narrator who jokes with the reader, and want a nineteenth century American novel about love and ideals.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A perfect June morning at Saddle Meadows
The book opens on a still summer morning in the country. Pierre Glendinning, just past nineteen, walks down the elm-lined village street to a cottage. At an upstairs window lies a white pillow with a crimson flower on it.
At the window is Lucy Tartan, the girl he loves. Their teasing is full of sweetness. Pierre pins the flower to his chest and says he marches under her colors.
He is the only son of a wealthy widow and the last male Glendinning to bear the name. The narrator lingers on this family pride with a sly smile and hints that Nature has made Pierre ready for a fall. Pierre often prays for a sister, and he does not yet know that some prayers are dangerous to have answered.
Melville builds a golden beginning so that its loss will hurt.
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A mother and son who call each other sister and brother
Mrs. Glendinning is nearly fifty, yet she looks young, and she is proud of it.
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Lucy weeps in the hills and a face begins to haunt
Pierre drives Lucy out in his grandfather's enormous old phaeton, pulled by two young colts he treats as family.
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A shriek at the sewing circle and a face made real
The face was no phantom.
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A letter in the dark and a father's delirium remembered
After Mrs. Glendinning surprisingly agrees that Pierre may marry Lucy before Christmas, he walks to the cottage in the dark.
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Isabel tells her story and plays her guitar
The next evening Pierre goes to the poor farmhouse where Isabel lives.
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A plan to save everyone by pretending to be married
Pierre is trapped by his own vows.
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The city shuts its doors on three travelers
Inside the coach, Pierre finds a crumpled pamphlet on the seat.
- 9Начните читать бесплатно
The Apostles, the unfinished book, and Lucy's arrival
Pierre finds rooms in an old stone church turned into lodgings for poets, painters, and philosophers.
- 10Начните читать бесплатно
What the story is about and how Melville tells it
The book's title carries its theme.
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Pierre Glendinning A proud, generous young heir who longs for a sister and ends by sacrificing home, bride, and fortune for a stranger he believes is one.
- Isabel Banford A dark-eyed seamstress with a guitar and a mysterious past who writes to Pierre claiming to be his father's daughter.
- Lucy Tartan Pierre's gentle, blue-eyed betrothed, who loves him with total trust and asks only that he keep no secrets from her.
- Mary Glendinning Pierre's elegant, proud widowed mother, who plays at being his sister and wants a son who is both a hero and obedient.
- Glen Stanly Pierre's wealthy, polished cousin and boyhood friend, whose smooth manners hide his true feelings.
- Delly Ulver A village girl cast out for shame, who finds shelter with Pierre and Isabel and fears the truth about their household.
- Mr. Falsgrave The handsome, gentle village clergyman whom Pierre hopes will advise him but who will not commit to any firm moral rule.
- Charlie Millthorpe Pierre's old friend from Saddle Meadows, a talkative would-be philosopher and lawyer who brings him to the Apostles.
How it ends (spoiler)
Pierre meets Glen and Frederic in the street and, after Glen strikes him, shoots Glen dead. He is thrown into prison. Lucy and Isabel visit him there, and Lucy dies of shock. Isabel has hidden poison, and she and Pierre both take it. They die in the cell together.
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Вопросы о книге Пьер, или «Неоднозначности»
What is Pierre; or The Ambiguities about?
It follows Pierre Glendinning, a young country heir who receives a letter from a woman claiming to be his father's daughter. He gives up his bride, his mother, and his home to protect her, and the cost to him and to those near him grows.
Who is Isabel in Pierre?
Isabel Banford is a dark-eyed seamstress who plays the guitar and tells Pierre a mysterious tale of her childhood. She writes that she is his father's daughter, and Pierre accepts the claim, though the book never gives clear proof.
Why is the book called The Ambiguities?
The title points to the doubts the book never settles. Readers cannot be sure whether the father was a saint or a sinner, whether Isabel's claim is true, or whether Pierre acts from virtue or from a longing for sacrifice.
When was Pierre written and is it a true story?
Herman Melville published it in 1852. It is fiction, though it draws on his own world of family pride, the Berkshire hills, and the New York literary market, where he knew the pressures on writers.
Is Pierre worth reading today?
Readers who like questions of conscience and family secrets will find much here. It has a lively, joking narrator, vivid scenes such as the sewing circle and the city arrival, and a sharp satire of publishers and young authors.
Как сослаться на это издание
Melville, Herman. Pierre; or The Ambiguities. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/pierre-or-the-ambiguities.
Melville, H. (2026). Pierre; or the ambiguities. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/pierre-or-the-ambiguities (Original work published 1852)
Melville, Herman. Pierre; or The Ambiguities. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/pierre-or-the-ambiguities.
@book{melville2026pierre,
author = {Melville, Herman},
title = {Pierre; or The Ambiguities},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/pierre-or-the-ambiguities},
note = {First published 1852}
}
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