"Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"

[william42]

I read a lot of Vonnegut, and he's always recommended the short stories of Ambrose Bierce. I finally picked up a book with a small collection of Bierces short stories. One of them is entitled "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge".

Bierce fought in the war with an Indiana regiment, and saw action at many of the larger battles. These stories are fiction, based on what he saw while in the service, and they are all riveting, detailed accounts of misfortunes, tragedys, missed signals, death, and how it feels to draw a bead on a fellow countryman and drop the hammer on him. He describes it as a dreadful, sickening experience, but tragically necessary. He's immediately filled with remorse, regret, and the horrifying realization that he will have to probably do it again at some point.

Bierce crossed into Mexico in 1911 or so, maybe 1913, when he was in his '70's, ostensibly to join up with Pancho Villa and to fight again. Nobody has heard from him since he crossed the Rio Grand in that year, but his writings have become immensely popular. His stories are a great read.

Terry

[johan_steele]

As a note Mark Twain & Ambrose Bierce were fast friends... I believe Twain once called Bierce the "...greatest literary mind in the 19th century; next to me of coarse." I'm not certain how accurate that quote is.

[tarheel]

Occurence at Owl Creek was made into an episode of the Twilight Zone back in the black and white Rod Steiger days .... excellent episode.

[blue_zouave]

Ambrose Bierce was a cartographer and was present at many Western Theater battles. After he suffered a head wound at Kennesaw Mountain, his personality changed (as is common with severe head injuries.)

There is an excellent brief biography of Bierce at http://www.biercephile.com/life.cfm

Anybody who hasn't read his work is in for a treat... if you like dark and cynical writing.

Zou

[matthew mckeon]

Bierce's writings on the Civil War, both his short stories and the non fiction pieces he wrote about Shiloh are worth a look. His sardonic wit, gift for the cutting phrase and ironic tone are a nice antidote to the sentimentality of a lot of writing of the period. Describing the repulse of an attack during the second day at Shiloh he summed up Civil War combat with this: "The usual victory of lead over steel."

His "Devil's Dictionary" is also very funny, if cynical.

[william42]

http://alangullette.com/lit/bierce/