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Ambrose Bierce

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Ambrose Bierce
Bierce around 1866
Bierce around 1866
BornAmbrose Gwinnett Bierce
(1842-06-24)June 24, 1842
Meigs County, Ohio,U.S.
Disappearedc. 1914 (aged 71–72)[1]
Occupation
  • Soldier
  • journalist
  • writer
Genres
Literary movementAmerican Realism
Notable works
Spouse
Mary Ellen "Mollie" Day
​
​
(m.1871;div.1904)​
Children3
Signature
Military career
AllegianceUnited States
Service/branchUnion Army
Years of service1861–1866
RankFirst lieutenant
Unit9th Indiana Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce(June 24, 1842[2]–c. 1914[3]) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, andAmerican Civil Warveteran. His bookThe Devil's Dictionarywas named one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by theAmerican Revolution Bicentennial Administration.[4]His story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"has been described as" one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature ",[5]and his bookTales of Soldiers and Civilians(also published asIn the Midst of Life) was named by theGrolier Clubone of the 100 most influential American books printed before 1900.[6]

A prolific and versatile writer, Bierce was regarded as one of the most influential journalists in the United States[7][8]and as a pioneering writer of realist fiction.[9]For his horror writing,Michael Dirdaranked him alongsideEdgar Allan PoeandH. P. Lovecraft.[10]S. T. Joshispeculates that he may well be the greatest satirist America has ever produced, and in this regard can take his place with such figures asJuvenal,Swift,andVoltaire.[11]His war stories influencedStephen Crane,Ernest Hemingway,and others,[12]and he was considered an influential and feared literary critic.[13]In recent decades, Bierce has gained wider respect as afabulistand for his poetry.[14][15]

In 1913, Bierce told reporters that he was travelling to Mexico to gain first-hand experience of theMexican Revolution.[16]He disappeared and was never seen again.

Early life

[edit]

Bierce was born in a log cabin at Horse Cave Creek inMeigs County, Ohio,on June 24, 1842, to Marcus Aurelius Bierce (1799–1876) and Laura Sherwood Bierce.[2]He was of entirely English ancestry: all of his forebears came to North America between 1620 and 1640 as part of the Great Puritan Migration.[17]He often wrote critically of "Puritan values" and people who "made a fuss" about genealogy.[18]He was the tenth of thirteen children, all of whom were given names by their father beginning with the letter "A": in order of birth, the Bierce siblings were Abigail, Amelia, Ann, Addison, Aurelius, Augustus, Almeda, Andrew, Albert, Ambrose, Arthur, Adelia, and Aurelia.[19]His mother was a descendant ofWilliam Bradford.[20]

His parents were a poor but literary couple who instilled in him a deep love for books and writing.[2]Bierce grew up inKosciusko County,Indiana, attending high school at thecounty seat,Warsaw.

He left home at 15 to become aprinter's devilat a smallabolitionistnewspaper, theNorthern Indianan.[2]

Military career

[edit]

Bierce briefly attended theKentucky Military Instituteuntil it burned down.[21]At the start of theAmerican Civil War,he enlisted in theUnion Army's9th Indiana Infantry.He participated in theoperations in Western Virginia(1861), was present at theBattle of Philippi(the first organized land action of the war) and received newspaper attention for his daring rescue, under fire, of a gravely wounded comrade at theBattle of Rich Mountain.Bierce fought at theBattle of Shiloh(April 1862), a terrifying experience that became a source for several short stories and the memoir "What I Saw of Shiloh".[22][23]

In April 1863 he was commissioned afirst lieutenant,and served on the staff of GeneralWilliam Babcock Hazenas atopographical engineer,making maps of likely battlefields.[24]As a staff officer, Bierce became known to leading generals such asGeorge H. ThomasandOliver O. Howard,both of whom supported his application for admission toWest Pointin May 1864. GeneralHazenbelieved Bierce would graduate from the military academy "with distinction" andWilliam T. Shermanalso endorsed the application for admission, even though stating he had no personal acquaintance with Bierce.[25]In June 1864, Bierce sustained atraumatic brain injuryat theBattle of Kennesaw Mountainand spent the rest of the summer on furlough, returning to active duty in September.[26][27]He was discharged from the army in January 1865.

His military career resumed in mid-1866, when he joined General Hazen as part of an expedition to inspect military outposts across theGreat Plains.The expedition traveled by horseback and wagon fromOmaha, Nebraska,arriving toward year's end in San Francisco, California. In the city, Bierce was awarded the rank ofbrevetmajorbefore resigning from the Army.

Journalism

[edit]

Bierce remained in San Francisco for many years, eventually becoming famous as a contributor or editor of newspapers and periodicals, includingThe San Francisco News Letter,The Argonaut,theOverland Monthly,The CalifornianandThe Wasp.[28]A selection of his crime reporting fromThe San Francisco News Letterwas included in theLibrary of AmericaanthologyTrue Crime.

Bierce lived and wrote in England from 1872 to 1875, contributing toFunmagazine. His first book,The Fiend's Delight,a compilation of his articles, was published in London in 1873 byJohn Camden Hottenunder the pseudonym "Dod Grile".[29][30]

Returning to the United States, he again took up residence in San Francisco. From 1879 to 1880, he traveled toRockervilleandDeadwoodin theDakota Territory,to try his hand as local manager for a New York mining company. When the company failed he returned to San Francisco and resumed his career in journalism.

From January 1, 1881, until September 11, 1885, he was editor ofThe Waspmagazine, in which he began a column titled "Prattle". He also became one of the first regular columnists and editorialists onWilliam Randolph Hearst's newspaper, theSan Francisco Examiner,[2]eventually becoming one of the most prominent and influential writers and journalists[citation needed]on theWest Coast.He remained associated withHearst Newspapersuntil 1909.[31]

Railroad refinancing bill

[edit]
Bierce's residence (right), 18Logan Circle,Washington, D.C.

TheUnion PacificandCentral Pacificrailroad companies had received large, low-interest loans from the U.S. government to build thefirst transcontinental railroad.Central Pacific executiveCollis P. Huntingtonpersuaded a friendly member ofCongressto introduce a bill excusing the companies from repaying the loans, amounting to $130 million (worth $4.76 billion today).

In January 1896 Hearst dispatched Bierce toWashington, D.C.,to foil this attempt. The essence of the plot was secrecy; the railroads' advocates hoped to get the bill through Congress without any public notice or hearings. When the angered Huntington confronted Bierce on the steps of theCapitoland told Bierce to name his price, Bierce's answer ended up in newspapers nationwide: "My price is one hundred thirty million dollars. If, when you are ready to pay, I happen to be out of town, you may hand it over to my friend, the Treasurer of the United States."[32]

Bierce's coverage and diatribes on the subject aroused such public wrath that the bill was defeated. Bierce returned to California in November.

In 1899, he moved back to Washington, D.C., and remained a resident until his disappearance in 1913. The best known of his four different residences in the city during this time perhaps is the townhouse at 18Logan Circle.[33]

McKinley controversy

[edit]

Bierce's long newspaper career was often controversial because of his penchant for biting social criticism and satire. On several occasions his columns stirred up a storm of hostile reaction, which created difficulties for Hearst. One of the most notable of these incidents occurred following theassassinationof PresidentWilliam McKinleyin 1901 when Hearst's opponents turned a poem Bierce had written about the assassination of GovernorWilliam Goebelof Kentucky in 1900 into acause célèbre.

Bierce meant his poem to express a national mood of dismay and fear, but after McKinley was shot in 1901, it seemed to foreshadow the crime:

The bullet that pierced Goebel's breast
Can not be found in all the West;
Good reason, it is speeding here
To stretch McKinley on his bier.

Hearst was thereby accused by rival newspapers—and by then-Secretary of WarElihu Root—of having called for McKinley's assassination. Despite a national uproar that ended his ambitions for the presidency (and even his membership in theBohemian Club), Hearst kept employing Bierce.[34]

Literary writer

[edit]
Bierce, 1892

During his lifetime, Bierce was better known as a journalist than as a fiction writer. His most popular stories were written in rapid succession between 1888 and 1891, in what was characterized as "a tremendous burst of consummate art".[35]Bierce's works often highlight the inscrutability of the universe and theabsurdity of death.[36][37]

Bierce wrote realistically of the terrible things he had seen in thewar[38]in such stories as "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge","A Horseman in the Sky","One of the Missing",and"Chickamauga".His grimly realistic cycle of 25 war stories has been called" the greatest anti-war document in American literature ". To the end of his life, nothing would so infuriate him as hearing accounts of the honor and glory of war from people who'd never seen or experienced it personally.[39]

According toMilton Subotsky,Bierce helped pioneer thepsychological horrorstory.[40]In addition to his ghost and war stories, he also published several volumes of poetry. HisFantastic Fablesanticipated the ironic style ofgrotesqueriethat became a more common genre in the 20th century.

One of Bierce's most famous works is his much-quotedThe Devil's Dictionary,originally an occasional newspaper item, first published in book form in 1906 asThe Cynic's Word Book.Described as "howlingly funny",[41]it consists of satirical definitions of English words which lampooncantand political double-talk. Bierce edited the twelve volumes ofThe Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce,which were published from 1909 to 1912. The seventh volume consists solely ofThe Devil's Dictionary.

Bierce has been criticized by his contemporaries and later scholars for deliberately pursuing improbability and for his penchant toward "trick endings".[36]In his later stories, apparently under the influence ofMaupassant,Bierce "dedicated himself to shocking the audience", as if his purpose was "to attack the reader's smug intellectual security".[42]

Bierce's bias towardsNaturalismhas also been noted:[43]"The biting, deriding quality of his satire, unbalanced by any compassion for his targets, was often taken as petty meanness, showing contempt for humanity and an intolerance to the point of merciless cruelty".[44]

Stephen Cranewas of the minority of Bierce's contemporaries who valued Bierce's experimental short stories.[45]In his essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature",H. P. Lovecraftcharacterized Bierce's fictional work as "grim and savage." Lovecraft goes on to say that nearly all of Bierce's stories are of thehorror genreand some shine as great examples ofweird fiction.[46]

Critic and novelistWilliam Dean Howellssaid, "Mr. Bierce is among our three greatest writers." When told this, Bierce responded, "I am sure Mr. Howells is the other two."[47]

Personal life

[edit]
Ambrose Bierce, byJ.H.E. Partington

Bierce married Mary Ellen "Mollie" Day on December 25, 1871. They had three children: sons Day (1872–1889)[48]and Leigh (1874–1901)[48]and daughter Helen (1875–1940). Both of Bierce's sons died before he did. Day committed suicide after a romantic rejection (he non-fatally shot the woman of his affections along with her fiancé beforehand),[49][50]and Leigh died ofpneumoniarelated to alcoholism.[48]Bierce separated from his wife in 1888, after discovering compromising letters to her from an admirer. They divorced in 1904.[48]Mollie Day Bierce died the following year.

Bierce was an avowed agnostic and strongly rejected thedivinity of Christ.[51]He had lifelongasthma,[52]as well as complications from his war wounds, most notably episodes of fainting and irritability assignable to the traumatic brain injury experienced at Kennesaw Mountain.[26][27]

Disappearance

[edit]

In October 1913 Bierce, then age 71, departed from Washington, D.C. for a tour of his oldCivil Warbattlefields. According to some reports, by December he had passed through Louisiana and Texas, crossing by way ofEl Pasointo Mexico, which was in the throes ofrevolution.InCiudad Juárezhe joinedPancho Villa's army as an observer, and in that role he witnessed theBattle of Tierra Blanca.[53]

It was reported that Bierce accompanied Villa's army as far as the city ofChihuahua.His last known communication with the world was a letter he wrote there toBlanche Partington,a close friend, dated December 26, 1913.[54][55][56]After closing this letter by saying, "As to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination,"he vanished without a trace,one of the most famous disappearances in American literary history.

Theories

[edit]

Bierce's ultimate fate remains a mystery. He wrote in one of his final letters: "Good-bye. If you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags, please know that I think it is a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico--ah, that is euthanasia!"[57]

SkepticJoe Nickellnoted that the letter to Partington had not been found; all that existed was a notebook belonging to his secretary and companion Carrie Christiansen. Partington concluded that Bierce deliberately concealed his true whereabouts when he finally went to a selected location in theGrand Canyonand died as a result of suicide.[58][59]

There was an official investigation by U.S. consular officials of the disappearance of one of its citizens. Some of Villa's men were questioned at the time of his disappearance and afterwards, with contradictory accounts. U.S. Army chief of staffHugh L. Scottcontacted Pancho Villa's U.S. representativeFelix A. Sommerfeld,and Sommerfeld investigated the disappearance. Bierce was said to have been last seen in the city of Chihuahua in January.[60]

Oral tradition inSierra Mojada,Coahuiladocumented by priest James Lienert states that Bierce was executed by firing squad in the town's cemetery.[61]

Legacy and influence

[edit]
Bierce andautograph

Bierce has been fictionalized in more than 50 novels, short stories, movies, television shows, stage plays, and comic books. Most of these works draw upon Bierce's vivid personality, colorful wit, relationships with famous people such asJack LondonandWilliam Randolph Hearst,or, quite frequently, his mysterious disappearance.

Bierce has been portrayed by such well-known authors asRay Bradbury,[62]Jack Finney,[63]Carlos Fuentes,[64]Winston Groom,[65]Robert Heinlein,[66]and Don Swaim.[67]Some works featuring a fictional Ambrose Bierce have received favorable reviews, generated international sales,[68]or earned major awards.

Bierce's short stories, "Haita the Shepherd" and "An Inhabitant of Carcosa"are believed to have influenced early weird fiction writerRobert W. Chambers' tales ofThe King in Yellow(1895), which featuredHastur,Carcosa,Lake Hali and other names and locations initiated in these tales.[69]Chambers in turn went on to influenceH. P. Lovecraftand much of modern horror fiction.

In 1918,H. L. Menckencalled Bierce "the one genuine wit that These States have ever seen."[70]

At least three films have been made of Bierce's story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge".A silent film version,The Bridge,was made in 1929 byCharles Vidor.[71]A French version calledLa Rivière du Hibou,directed byRobert Enrico,was released in 1962;[72]this black-and-white film faithfully recounts the original narrative using voiceover. It aired in 1964 on American television as one of the final episodes of the television seriesThe Twilight Zone:"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge".[73]Prior toThe Twilight Zone,the story had been adapted as an episode ofAlfred Hitchcock Presents.[74]Another version, directed by Brian James Egen, was released in 2005. It was also adapted for the CBS radio programsEscape(1947),Suspense(1956, 1957, 1959), andRadio Mystery Theater(1974).

In his 1932 bookWild Talents,American writer and researcher into anomalous phenomenaCharles Fortwrote about the unexplained disappearances of Ambrose Bierce andAmbrose Small,and asked, "Was somebody collecting Ambroses?"[75]

Actor James Lanphier (1920–1969) played Bierce, withJames HamptonasWilliam Randolph Hearst,in the 1964 episode "The Paper Dynasty", of thesyndicatedwesterntelevision seriesDeath Valley Days,hosted byStanley Andrews.In the story line, Hearst struggles to turn a profit despite increased circulation of theSan Francisco Examiner.Robert O. Cornthwaiteappears as Sam Chamberlain.[76]

Carlos Fuentes's 1985 novelThe Old Gringois a fictionalized account of Bierce's disappearance; it was later adapted into the filmOld Gringo(1989), starringGregory Peckin the title role.[77]Fuentes stated: "What started this novel was my admiration for Ambrose Bierce and for hisTales of Soldiers and Civilians."[78]

Two adaptations were made of Bierce's story "Eyes of the Panther". One version was developed forShelley Duvall'sNightmare Classicsseries and was released in 1990. It runs about 60 minutes.[79]A shorter version was released in 2007 by director Michael Barton and runs about 23 minutes.[80]

Bierce was a major character in a series of mystery books written byOakley Halland published between 1998 and 2006.[81]

Biographer Richard O'Connor argued that, "War was the making of Bierce as a man and a writer... [he became] truly capable of transferring the bloody, headless bodies and boar-eaten corpses of the battlefield onto paper."[2]

EssayistClifton Fadimanwrote, "Bierce was never a great writer. He has painful faults of vulgarity and cheapness of imagination. But... his style, for one thing, will preserve him; and the purity of hismisanthropy,too, will help to keep him alive. "[2]

Author Alan Gullette argues that Bierce's war tales may be the best writing on war, outranking his contemporaryStephen Crane(author ofThe Red Badge of Courage) and evenErnest Hemingway.[2]

The short film "Ah! Silenciosa" (1999), starringJim Beaveras Bierce, weaves elements of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" into a speculation on Bierce's disappearance.[82]

Bierce's trip to Mexico and disappearance provide the background for thevampirehorror filmFrom Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter(2000), in which Bierce's character plays a central role.[83]Bierce's fate is the subject ofGerald Kersh's "The Oxoxoco Bottle" (aka "The Secret of the Bottle" ), which appeared inThe Saturday Evening Poston December 7, 1957, and was reprinted in the anthologyMen Without Bones.Bierce reappears in the future onMount ShastainRobert Heinlein's novella, "Lost Legacy".

In the fall of 2001,An Occurrence Remembered,a theatrical retelling of Bierce'sAn Occurrence At Owl Creek BridgeandChickamauga,premiered off-Broadway in New York City under the production and direction ofLorin Morgan-Richardsand lead choreographer Nicole Cavaliere.[84]

American composerRodney Waschka IIcomposed an opera,Saint Ambrose(2002), based on Bierce's life.[85]

In 2002 the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco premiered a one-act version of Bierce's ultra-short story "The Difficulty of Crossing a Field" by American composerDavid Lang.The opera has since been performed by other companies.[86]

In 2005, authorKurt Vonnegutstated that he considered "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" the "greatest American short story" and a work of "flawless... American genius".[87]

"The Damned Thing"was adapted twice. First time in 1975, into a Yugoslav TV-movieProkletinja.Second time, into a 2006Masters of Horrorepisode of the same title directed byTobe Hooper.[88]

Don Swaim writes of Bierce's life and disappearance inThe Assassination of Ambrose Bierce: A Love Story(2015).[89]

Ambrose Bierce features as a character inWinston Groom's 2016 novelEl Paso.In the novel, Bierce is personally executed by Pancho Villa.[90]

Weird-fiction critic and editorS. T. Joshihas cited Bierce as an influence on his own work, and has praised him for his satirical wit, saying "Bierce will remain an equivocal figure in American and world literature chiefly because his dark view of humanity is, by its very nature, unpopular. Most people like writing that is cheerful and uplifting, even though a substantial proportion of the world's great literature is quite otherwise."[91][92]

Works

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Volumes published

[edit]

Published during Bierce's lifetime

[edit]
  • The Fiend's Delight(as by "Dod Grile" ). (London:John Camden Hotten,1873). Stories, satire, journalism, poetry.
  • Nuggets and Dust Panned Out in California(as by "Dod Grile" ). (London:Chatto & Windus,1873). Stories, satire, epigrams, journalism.
  • Cobwebs from an Empty Skull(as by "Dod Grile" ). (London and New York:George Routledge& Sons, 1874). Fables, stories, journalism.
  • (with Thomas A. Harcourt)The Dance of Death(as by "William Herman" ). (San Francisco: H. Keller & Co., 1877). Satire.
  • Map of theBlack HillsRegion, Showing the Gold Mining District and the Seat of the Indian War(San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft & Co., 1877). Nonfiction: map.
  • Tales of Soldiers and Civilians(San Francisco: E. L. G. Steele, 1891; many subsequent editions, some under the titleIn the Midst of Life). Fiction: stories.
  • (withG. A. Danziger)The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter(Chicago: F.J. Schulte & Co., 1892). Fiction: novel (translation ofDer Mönch von BerchtesgadenbyRichard Voss).
  • Black Beetles in Amber(San Francisco and New York: Western Authors Publishing, 1892). Poetry.
  • Can Such Things Be?(New York:Cassell,1893). Fiction: stories.
  • How Blind Is He(San Francisco: F. Soulé Campbell,c.1896). Poetry.
  • Fantastic Fables(New York and London:G. P. Putnam's Sons,1899). Fiction: fables.
  • Shapes of Clay(San Francisco: W. E. WoodGeorge Sterling,1903). Poetry.
  • The Cynic's Word Book(New York:Doubleday, Page & Co.,1906). Satire.
  • A Son of the Gods andA Horseman in the Sky(San Francisco: Paul Elder, 1907). Fiction: stories.
  • Write It Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults(New York and Washington, D.C.: Neale Publishing, 1909). Nonfiction: precise use of words.
  • The Shadow on the Dial and Other EssaysS. O. Howes, ed. (San Francisco: A.M. Robertson, 1909). Collected journalism.
  • The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce(New York and Washington, D.C.: Neale Publishing, 1909–1912):
    • Volume I: Ashes of the Beacon
    • Volume II: In the Midst of Life:Tales of Soldiers and Civilians
    • Volume III: Can Such Things Be?
    • Volume IV: Shapes of Clay
    • Volume V: Black Beetles in Amber
    • Volume VI: The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter; Fantastic Fables
    • Volume VII:The Devil's Dictionary
    • Volume VIII: Negligible Tales; On with the Dance; Epigrams
    • Volume IX: Tangential Views
    • Volume X: The Opinionator
    • Volume XI: Antepenultimata
    • Volume XII: In Motley

Published posthumously

[edit]
Fiction
Satire
  • Extraordinary Opinions on Commonplace Subjects(Girard, KS:Haldeman-Julius,c.1927)
  • A Cynic Looks at Life(Girard, KS:Haldeman-Julius,c.1927)
  • The Sardonic Humor of Ambrose Bierce,George Barkin, ed. (New York:Dover,1963)
  • The Fall of the Republic and Other Political Satires,S. T. Joshiand David E. Schultz, eds. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 2000)
Poetry
Journalism
  • Selections from Prattle,Carroll D. Hall, ed. (San Francisco:Book Club of California,1936)
  • The Ambrose Bierce Satanic Reader,Ernest Jerome Hopkins, ed. (Garden City, NY:Doubleday,1968)
  • Skepticism and Dissent: Selected Journalism from 1898 to 1901,Lawrence I. Berkove, ed. (Ann Arbor: Delmas, 1980)
Autobiography
  • Iconoclastic Memories of the Civil War: Bits of Autobiography(Girard, KS:Haldeman-Julius,c.1927)
  • Battle Sketches(London: First Editions Club, 1930)
  • A Sole Survivor: Bits of Autobiography,S. T. Joshiand David E. Schultz, eds. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 1998)
Collections of mixed types of content
  • The Collected Writings of Ambrose Bierce(New York: Citadel Press, 1946)
  • Ambrose Bierce's Civil War,William McCann, ed. (Chicago: Gateway Editions, 1956)
  • The Devil's Advocate: An Ambrose Bierce Reader,Brian St. Pierre, ed. (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1987)
  • An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridgeand Selected Works(Des Moines: Perfection Form Co., 1991)
  • Shadows of Blue and Gray: The Civil War Writings of Ambrose Bierce,Brian M. Thomsen,ed. (New York: Forge, 2002)
  • Phantoms of a Blood-Stained Period: The Complete Civil War Writings of Ambrose Bierce,Russell Duncan and David J. Klooster, eds. (Amherst: University of Massachusetts, 2002)
  • Ambrose Bierce:The Devil's Dictionary,Tales, and Memoirs,S. T. Joshi,ed. (Boone, IA:Library of America,2011)
  • Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 1: 1867–1869,David E. Schultz andS. T. Joshi,eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2022)
  • Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 2: 1869–1870,David E. Schultz andS. T. Joshi,eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2022)
  • Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 3: 1870–1871,David E. Schultz andS. T. Joshi,eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2022)
  • Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 4: 1871–1872,David E. Schultz andS. T. Joshi,eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2022)
  • Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 5: 1872–1873,David E. Schultz andS. T. Joshi,eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2022)
  • Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 6: 1873–1874,David E. Schultz andS. T. Joshi,eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
  • Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 7: 1874–1875,David E. Schultz andS. T. Joshi,eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
  • Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 8: 1875–1876,David E. Schultz andS. T. Joshi,eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
  • Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 9: 1877–1878,David E. Schultz andS. T. Joshi,eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
  • Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 10: 1878–1880,David E. Schultz andS. T. Joshi,eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
  • Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 11: 1881,David E. Schultz andS. T. Joshi,eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
  • Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 12: 1882,David E. Schultz andS. T. Joshi,eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
  • Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 13: 1883,David E. Schultz andS. T. Joshi,eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
  • Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 14: 1833–1884,David E. Schultz andS. T. Joshi,eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
  • Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 15: 1884–1885,David E. Schultz andS. T. Joshi,eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
  • Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 16: 1885,David E. Schultz andS. T. Joshi,eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
  • Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 17: 1886,David E. Schultz andS. T. Joshi,eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
Letters
  • Containing Four Ambrose Bierce Letters(New York: Charles Romm, 1921)
  • The Letters of Ambrose Bierce,Bertha Clark Pope[andGeorge Sterling,uncredited], eds. (San Francisco:Book Club of California,1922)
  • Twenty-one Letters of Ambrose Bierce,Samuel Loveman,ed. (Cleveland: George Kirk, 1922)
  • A Letter and a Likeness(n.p.: Harvey Taylor, [1930?])
  • Battlefields and Ghosts(Palo Alto: Harvest Press, 1931)
  • Ambrose Bierce: "My Dear Rearden": a Letter.(Berkeley:Bancroft LibraryPress, 1997)
  • A Much Misunderstood Man: Selected Letters of Ambrose Bierce,S. T. Joshiand David E. Schultz, eds. (Columbus: Ohio State University, 2003)
  • My Dear Mac: Three Letters(Berkeley:Bancroft LibraryPress, 2006)

Short stories

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Ambrose Bierce was a prolific writer of short fiction. He wrote 249 short stories,[93]846 fables,[94]and more than 300 humorous Little Johnny stories.[95]The following list provides links to more information about notable stories by Bierce.[96]

See also

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References

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  1. ^McWilliams, Carey.Ambrose Bierce: A Biography.Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1967, pp. 324–25.
  2. ^abcdefghFloyd 1999,p. 18.
  3. ^D'Ammassa, Don (2006).Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Horror Fiction.New York: Facts On File, Inc.
  4. ^"Franklin Library 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature 1976–1984",Leather Bound Treasure.
  5. ^"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge: Ambrose Bierce."Short Story Criticism,v. 72, Joseph Palmisano, ed. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2004, p. 2.
  6. ^Adams, Frederick B.; Winterich, John T.; Johnson, Thomas H.; and McKay, George L.One Hundred Influential American Books Printed Before 1900: Catalogue and Addresses.New York: The Grolier Club, 1947, p. 124.
  7. ^Grenander, M. E.Ambrose Bierce,Boston: Twayne, 1971, p. 10.
  8. ^Mundt, Whitney R., "Ambrose Bierce" inDictionary of Literary Biographyv. 23:American Newspaper Journalists, 1873–1900,Ashley, Perry J., ed., Detroit: Gale Research, 1983, p. 25. See also Bierce, Ambrose,Skepticism and Dissent: Selected Journalism from 1898–1901,Lawrence I. Berkove, ed., Ann Arbor: Delmas, 1980; Lindley, Daniel,Ambrose Bierce Takes on the Railroad: The Journalist as Muckraker and Cynic,Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999; Ramirez, Salvador A.,A Clash of Titans: Ambrose Bierce, Collis Huntington and the 1896 Fight to Refund the Central Pacific's Debt to the Federal Government,San Luis Rey, Calif: Tentacled Press, 2010; Drabelle, Dennis,The Great American Railroad War: How Ambrose Bierce and Frank Norris Took on the Notorious Central Pacific Railroad,New York: St. Martin's, 2012; West, Richard Samuel,The San Francisco Wasp: An Illustrated History,Northampton, MA: Periodyssey Press, 2004, pp. 45–59, 310–11.
  9. ^Grenander, M.E., "Ambrose Bierce" inDictionary of Literary Biographyv. 12:American Realists and Naturalists,Pizer, Donaldand Harbert, Earl N., eds., Detroit: Gale Research, 1982, pp. 23–36.
  10. ^Dirda, Michael,"Thirteen for Halloween",The American Scholar,October 28, 2015.
  11. ^Kelley, Rich. "The Library of America interviews S. T. Joshi about Ambrose Bierce".The Library of America.September 2011.
  12. ^Joshi, S. T.in Kelley, Rich, "The Library of America interviews S. T. Joshi about Ambrose Bierce,"The Library of America e-Newsletter,Sept. 2011.
  13. ^Grenander, M.E., "Ambrose Bierce" inDictionary of Literary Biographyv. 71:American Literary Critics and Scholars, 1880–1900,Rathbun, John W. and Grecu, Monica M., eds., Detroit: Gale Research, 1988, pp. 27–37.
  14. ^Joshi, S.T., "Introduction,"The Collected Fables of Ambrose Bierce,Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 2000, p. xxi.
  15. ^Grenander, M.E., "Introduction" toPoems of Ambrose Bierce,Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1995, p. xiii.
  16. ^Bierce letter from Chihuahua to Blanche Partington dated December 26, 1913. Printed inA Much Misunderstood Man: Selected Letters of Ambrose Bierce,S. T. Joshiand David E. Schultz, eds. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2003, pp. 244–46.
  17. ^Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company By Roy Morris
  18. ^The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 8 Epigrams, On With the Dance, Negligible Tales
  19. ^An Ambrose Bierce Companionby Robert L. Gale p. 31
  20. ^Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Companyby Roy Morris p. 20
  21. ^Bleiler, E. F. (1964). "Introduction".Ghost and Horror Stories of Ambrose Bierce.New York: Dover. pp. vi.ISBN0-486-20767-6.
  22. ^Paul Fatout, "Ambrose Bierce, Civil War Topographer."American Literature26.3 (1954): 391-400online.
  23. ^Bjorn Skaptason, "What I Saw of Shiloh: In the Footsteps of Ambrose Bierce."The Ambrose Bierce Project Journal3 (2007): 1–32onlineArchivedFebruary 21, 2016, at theWayback Machine.
  24. ^McWilliams, Jim (December 17, 2013)."Ambrose Bierce's Civil War".The New York Times.RetrievedAugust 16,2018.
  25. ^National Archives, RG 94, Entry243, Microfilm M688, Roll 235
  26. ^abKeeler, Kyle (Summer 2019). "'I thought this is a bad dream and tried to cry out': Sleep as Trauma in the Fiction of Ambrose Bierce ".Midwest Quarterly: A Journal of Contemporary Thought.60:451–468.
  27. ^ab"1861–67. The Civil War",The Ambrose Bierce Project(timeline), archived fromthe originalon September 4, 2009,retrievedMay 27,2009
  28. ^Museum, Marin History (December 23, 2013)."Marin History Watch: Ambrose Bierce's way with words".Marin Independent Journal.Archivedfrom the original on June 6, 2024.RetrievedJune 6,2024.
  29. ^Bierce 2003,p. 8.
  30. ^Morris 1999,p. 143.
  31. ^Joshi, S. T. (2010).Student's Encyclopedia of Great American Writers: 1830 to 1900.Vol. 2. New York: Facts On File, Inc.
  32. ^Beam, Alex (June 24, 2008)."Ambrose Bierce, mon amour".The Boston Globe.RetrievedApril 5,2015.(subscription may be required or content may be available in libraries)
  33. ^"Ambrose Bierce".DC Writers’ Homes.August 21, 2017.RetrievedApril 3,2023.
  34. ^Morris 1999,pp. 236–37.
  35. ^M. E. Grenander.Ambrose Bierce.New York: Twayne Publishers, 1971. p. 55.
  36. ^abYe Qi.Megashift from Plot to Character In American Short Fiction.ISBN978-0983875369.p. 48.
  37. ^Curran, Ronald T. (2016)."Bierce, Ambrose".World Book Advanced.World Book.RetrievedJanuary 15,2016.
  38. ^"Ambrose Bierce's Civil War".Opinionator.December 17, 2013.RetrievedJanuary 14,2016.
  39. ^A. Teodorescu.Death Representations in Literature.Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015.ISBN978-1443872980.p. 143.
  40. ^Jones, Stephen; Newman, Kim, eds. (1990).Horror: 100 Best Books.New York: Carroll and Graf. p.74.ISBN0881845949.
  41. ^Morris, Roy.Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company.Oxford University Press, 1995, p.183.
  42. ^Fusco, Richard.Maupassant and the American Short Story: The Influence of Form at the Turn of the Century.Penn State University Press, 2010.ISBN978-0271041124.p. 112.
  43. ^Judy Cornes.Madness and the Loss of Identity in Nineteenth Century Fiction.McFarland, 2007.ISBN978-0786432240.p. 52.
  44. ^H. Hendin, A. O. Haas. "Posttraumatic Stress Disorders in Veterans of Early American Wars."Psychohistory Review12 (1984): 25–30.
  45. ^Bierce, Ambrose (1984).The Complete Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce.Compiled with Commentary by Ernest Jerome Hopkins; Foreword byCathy Davidson.University of Nebraska Press. p. 5.ISBN0803260717.
  46. ^s:Supernatural Horror in Literature/The Weird Tradition in America
  47. ^McWilliams, Carey.Ambrose Bierce: A Biography.Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1967, p. 219.
  48. ^abcdFloyd 1999,p. 19.
  49. ^Morris 1999,pp. 206–08, 238.
  50. ^"Along the Pacific Coast".Sacramento Daily Record-Union.July 27, 1889. p. 1.RetrievedDecember 11,2015.
  51. ^Donald T. Blume (2004). "The Boarded Window".Ambrose Bierce's Civilians and soldiers in context: a critical study.Kent State University Press. p. 323.ISBN978-0873387781.Contrary to McWilliams's claim; however, in the public arena Bierce was not merely an agnostic, but a staunch unbeliever regarding the question of Jesus' divinity.
  52. ^Floyd 1999,pp. 19–20.
  53. ^Varhola, Michael (2011).Texas Confidential: Sex, Scandal, Murder, and Mayhem in the Lone Star State(First ed.). Cincinnati: Clerisy Press. p. 176.ISBN978-1578604586.
  54. ^Starrett, Vincent(1920),Ambrose Bierce,WM Hill, p. 39.
  55. ^Bierce 2003,pp. 244f.
  56. ^Day, Leon (August 8, 2007)."My Hunt For Ambrose Bierce".The Ambrose Bierce Site.RetrievedApril 6,2016.
  57. ^Abrams, Garry (June 25, 1991)."Stranger Than Fiction: Mystery: The case of Ambrose Bierce, the disappearing author, may have been solved by the publisher of a new collection of the writer's short stories".Los Angeles Times.RetrievedJanuary 22,2022.
  58. ^Ambrose Bierce is Missing: And Other Historical Mysteries By Joe Nickell.p. 28.
  59. ^Nickell, Joe (2021). "Incredible vanishings and the case of Ambrose Bierce".Skeptical Inquirer.45(2): 14–16.
  60. ^Katz, Friedrich (1998).The Life and Times of Pancho Villa.Stanford: Stanford University Press. p. 865.
  61. ^Lienert, James (2004), "Monument in the Sierra Mojada cemetery",The Ambrose Bierce Site,with inscription stating that Bierce was shot there.
  62. ^Bradbury, Ray(1949) "The Mad Wizards of Mars,"Maclean's,Sept. 15; revised as "The Exiles,"Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction,v. 1 n. 2, Winter-Spring 1950; revised again and included inThe Illustrated Man(1951). Print. Bierce assistsEdgar Allan Poe,other fantasy writers, and their fictional characters—all exiled to Mars because Earth has forbidden and destroyed every fantasy book—in a last-ditch attempt to prevent an expedition from Earth from obliterating them.
  63. ^Finney, Jack(1955) "Of Missing Persons,"Good Housekeeping,March. Print. In one of Finney's most often reprinted stories, Bierce is mentioned but never seen. Nevertheless, he plays an important symbolic role. A man tells about his visit to a seemingly ordinary travel agency that secretly arranges for discontented people to leave Earth and travel to the utopian planet of Verna. Bierce is the only specific character named as having disappeared from Earth to move to Verna, and his activities and new home on Verna are described.
  64. ^Shorris, Earl (October 27, 1985)."The New York Times: Book Review Search Article".archive.nytimes.RetrievedSeptember 13,2020.
  65. ^O'Hanlon, Morgan (October 12, 2016)."Author Winston Groom returns to fiction unsuccessfully with" El Paso "".The Daily Texan.Archived fromthe originalon September 22, 2017.RetrievedSeptember 13,2020.
  66. ^"AlphaDictionary Free Online Dictionaries * Ambrose Bierce Devil's Dictionary".Alpha dictionary.RetrievedSeptember 13,2020.
  67. ^Rhiminee, Seregil of (May 8, 2016)."A review of Don Swaim's The Assassination of Ambrose Bierce: A Love Story".risingshadow.net.RetrievedSeptember 13,2020.
  68. ^Shaw, Deborah A., "Best Sellers".Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature,Smith, Verity, ed. London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997, p. 115.
  69. ^Lee Weinstein (2017). "The King in Yellow". In Matt Cardin (ed.).Horror Literature through History: An Encyclopedia of the Stories that Speak to Our Deepest Fears.ABC-CLIO. p. 513.ISBN9781440842023.
  70. ^"Suite Elegiaque,"Smart Setv. 57 n. 2 (October 1918), p. 144; reprinted inH. L. Mencken on American Literature,S. T. Joshi,ed., Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2002.
  71. ^Vidor, Charles (September 22, 2009),The Bridge,retrievedApril 11,2016
  72. ^Enrico, Robert (May 1, 1962),Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,retrievedApril 11,2016
  73. ^Enrico, Robert (February 28, 1964),An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,retrievedApril 11,2016
  74. ^Stevenson, Robert (January 1, 2000),An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,retrievedApril 11,2016
  75. ^"The Quotable Fort: Part 2".RetrievedFebruary 13,2017.
  76. ^"The Paper Dynasty onDeath Valley Days".Internet Movie Database.March 1, 1964.RetrievedAugust 7,2015.
  77. ^Fuentes, Carlos,Gringo Viejo(Planeta, 2004)ISBN978-968-6941-67-8
  78. ^Rohter, Larry, "From One Civil War to Another".New York Times,October 27, 1985.
  79. ^Black, Noel (November 26, 1989),The Eyes of the Panther,retrievedApril 11,2016
  80. ^Barton, Michael (August 10, 2007),The Eyes of the Panther,retrievedApril 11,2016
  81. ^Latiolais, Michelle."In Memoriam Oakley Hall".University of California. Archived fromthe originalon May 12, 2014.RetrievedOctober 29,2013.
  82. ^Cline-Márquez, Marcos (January 1, 2000),Ah! Silenciosa,retrievedApril 11,2016
  83. ^Pesce, P. J. (January 18, 2000),From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter,retrievedApril 11,2016
  84. ^Civil War Times Illustrated,December 2001
  85. ^Waschka II, Rodney,Saint Ambrose,Capstone Records.
  86. ^Lang, David."The Difficulty of Crossing a Field".davidlangmusic.RetrievedOctober 27,2020.
  87. ^Vonnegut, Kurt,A Man Without a Country,pp. 7–8,And I consider anybody a twerp who hasn't read the greatest American short story, which is "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," by Ambrose Bierce....It is a flawless example of American genius...
  88. ^Hooper, Tobe (October 27, 2006),The Damned Thing,retrievedApril 11,2016
  89. ^"Fiction book review".Publishers Weekly.RetrievedJuly 28,2017.
  90. ^Vitale, Tom."Why It Took 'Forrest Gump' Author Nearly 20 Years To Write A New Novel".NPR Books.NPR.RetrievedAugust 30,2018.
  91. ^"Book Interview: S.T. Joshi on Ambrose Bierce — The Underappreciated Genius of Being Grim".The Arts Fuse.January 24, 2012.RetrievedDecember 8,2019.
  92. ^"Introduction to A Sole Survivor: Bits of Autobiography by Ambrose Bierce".stjoshi.org.RetrievedDecember 8,2019.
  93. ^The Short Fiction of Ambrose Bierce: A Comprehensive Edition(3 volumes.),S. T. Joshi,Lawrence I. Berkove, and David E. Schultz, eds. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 2006)
  94. ^The Collected Fables of Ambrose Bierce,S. T. Joshi,ed. (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2000)
  95. ^S. T. Joshiand David E. Schultz,Ambrose Bierce: An Annotated Bibliography of Primary Sources,Westport, CT and London: Greenwood Press, 1999, pp. 326–27.
  96. ^Dates given for short stories are the earliest publication dates in magazines and newspapers according toS. T. Joshiand David E. Schultz,Ambrose Bierce: An Annotated Bibliography of Primary Sources.Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.

Bibliography

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Primary sources

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