This collection of short stories by Bierce is one of them. Perhaps all really great books do this, but it seems to me some do it more than others. It's not so much that it gives a sophisticated intellectual understanding as that it gives a vivid impression of what it may have been like to live there at that time. "The Tale of Two Cities" does that for me with the French Revolution. Some books really give you a feel for a specific time and place. Probably the most poignant of his stories deal with the dividing of families as each choose the side they serve, sometime with harrowing results.Īnyone interested in Civil War history and plot twist play in the style of Poe, O Henry or even Lovecraft will enjoy this small collection of short stories by a man who, sadly, lived through enough of the war to become tired of living.more ![]() Nevertheless his stories are told with rich descriptions and show the honor and respect due to both sides as they each act according to their convictions. Well, at least for one of them.īierce doesn't spare the reader the horrors of war. The ending is tense and the action lightening-speed paced culminating to a surprisingly peaceful end. The spy apparently has no belief in any kind of afterlife and thumbs his nose at his imminent death. ![]() The general merely asks formal questions. The wit and belligerence is all on the side of the spy. A Union spy engages in a witty, belligerent repartee with a Confederate General who has him in custody. Parker Addison, Philosopher is my favorite. In one such story a man does amazingly foolish things because, as it turns out, some idjit of a woman back home "hoped he wouldn't turn out to be a coward as Captain so and so claimed." Really? We counter that with risking our life to the point of finally losing it for nothing? How about just finding a new girlfriend?Īnother story has a Captain so blindly following orders that he knowingly engages in friendly fire because ordered to "shoot ahead no matter what" by a superior who had also told him to never question an order.īut there are also some real gems. My one criticism is that in some of the stories the difficulty for the protagonist could have been avoided if he had only employed common sense. ![]() It simply builds until the final paragraph, sometimes the last sentence, where the full force of the story arrives home to astound the reader. Another common story technique that Bierce uses is to create a story line that appears to have no arc. Perhaps he is a little verbose on detail but that seems to be a characteristic of writers of that day. However, Bierce's writing isn't worth reading because he is an authority on the Civil War but rather because of his ability to cause the reader to dive into each scene and experience along with the characters the events that take place. They are inspired largely from his own experiences in the war. This collection of stories are considered some of the best of Bierce's fiction. It is assumed that he died in the siege of Ojinaga in January 1914. In a farewell letter he wrote, "If you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags, please know that I think it a pretty good way to depart this life." His writing was colored by acerbic wit and more than a touch of bitterness. He wrote for newspapers, short stories, and poetry. This collection of st Ambrose Bierce was an enigmatic man. In a farewell letter he wrote, "If you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags, please know that I think it a pretty good way to depart this life." That was the last heard of Bierce. I think he's a great author with insight about the psyche of a soldier, humor, and writing a short story ending with a punch are his strong suit. He fought in the Civil war for the Union and the stories reflect his experiences and there's NO doubt which side he was on. I stumbled across an article on 6/24/17 'the 175th anniversary of the birth of Ambrose Bierce' and knew I had to read something he wrote. Bierce and thank you for your servic I really enjoyed this collection of stories. ![]() I really enjoyed this collection of stories.
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