Ambrose Bierce is as famous for the circumstances surrounding the end of his life as for his bitter fatalistic prose.  Bierce was a journalist/author and a Civil War veteran.  In 1913, after the breakup of his marriage and the death of his sons, he set out for Mexico to meet Pancho Villa and observe the Mexican Revolution at first hand.  He wrote to a friend:

    Goodbye, 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.  It beats old age, disease, or falling down
    the cellar stairs.  To be a Gringo in Mexico--ah, that is euthanasia!

With that, he disappeared into Mexico and was never heard from again, fueling wild speculation about his fate (i.e., Carols Fuentes' novel The Old Gringo).  A fitting end for an author whose works combined a bleak view of life with elements of mystery.

Bierce's Civil War stories are bleak little tales of death and destruction.  There's one here that nicely captures his cynical world view--most of us saw a film version of it in grade school--An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.  Peyton Farquhar is a Southern planter captured behind Union lines on a spy mission.  As the story opens, he stands upon Owl Creek Bridge with a noose around his neck thinking of the wife and children he will never see again.  But when the Union soldiers try to hang him, the noose slips and he swims off downstream.  He flees across country until he finally reaches home and as he approaches his open armed wife...the rope snaps tight and we realize that he had imagined the whole episode on his way down.  Here in one tidy package is the brutality of war, the futility of life and the bitter wit that characterizes his work.

He's not for all tastes, and I'm not generally big on short stories, but I like him.

(Reviewed:)

Grade: (B) Orrin C. Judd

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Ambrose Bierce Links:

    -WIKIPEDIA: Ambrose Bierce
    COLLECTION: -THE AMBROSE BIERCE LETTERS PROJECT: UC's collection of Ambrose Bierce letters consists of fifty-nine items
    -The Ambrose Bierce Site
    -ENTRY: Ambrose Bierce (Literature Network)
    -ENTRY: Ambrose Bierce (American Literature))
    -ENTRY: Ambrose Bierce (LibreTexts)
    -INDEX: Ambrose Bierce (All Poetry)
    -INDEX: Ambrose Bierce (Annenberg Learner)
    -INDEX: Ambrose Bierce (Library of America)
    -INDEX: Ambrose Bierce (Lapham’s Quarterly)
    -INDEX: Ambrose Bierce (LitHub)
    -INDEX: Ambrose Bierce (Poetry Foundation)
    -INDEX: Ambrose Bierce (Project Gutenberg)
    -SHORT STORY: “An Imperfect Conflagration” (Ambrose Bierce, The Parenticide Club)
    -ESSAY: Chickamauga (Ambrose Bierce, Battlefields.org)
    -ESSAY: Very Trustworthy Witnesses: The many deaths of Ambrose Bierce. (Forrest Gander, October 17, 2014, Paris Review)
    -ESSAY: No one knows why Ambrose Bierce disappeared, but here are some theories. (Dan Sheehan, June 24, 2021, LitHub)
    -ESSAY: The Wickedest Man in San Francisco: Ambrose Bierce (Dr. Weirde, FoundSF)
    -INTERVIEW: The Library of America interviews S. T. Joshi about Ambrose Bierce (Library of America)[PDF]
    -EXCERPT: Chapter One (Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company by Roy Morris, Jr.)
    -ESSAY: Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) (Paul Fatout, Fall 1967, American Literary Realism, 1870-1910)
    -ESSAY: Ambrose Bierce, the Dark Humorist Who Disappeared: The famed author and satirist decided to go on one last adventure during Mexico's Revolutionary War. He was never seen or heard from again. (Jake Rossen, Oct 30, 2023, Mental Floss)
    -REVIEW: of Ambrose Bierce: The Devil’s Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs (Terrence Rafferty, NY Times Book Review)
    -WIKIPEDIA: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
    -SHORT STORY: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce (American Literature)
    -ETEXT: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce (Project Gutenberg)
    -AUDIO: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Ambient Storytelling)
    -AUDIO: Escape: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Escape is an American radio drama, 12/10/1947, CBS
    -AUDIO: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (VOA: Learning English)
    -AUDIO: Just Listen Podcast: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Nashville Public Library)
    -ARTWORK: AN OCCURRENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE (Francois Vigneault, JUNE 22, 2013)
    -ENTRY: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Encyclopedia.com)
    -ENTRY: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
    -STUDY GUIDE: "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and Other Civil War Stories Background by Ambrose Bierce (GradeSaver)
    -STUDY GUIDE: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Spark Notes)
    -STUDY GUIDE: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Study.com)
    -STUDY GUIDE: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (eNotes)
    -STUDY GUIDE: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Literature Studies)
    -STUDY GUIDE: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Cliff Notes)
    -STUDY GUIDE: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Quizlet)
    -STUDY GUIDE: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (OwlEyes)
    -STUDY GUIDE: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Course Hero)
    -STUDY GUIDE: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (LitCharts)
    -STUDY GUIDE: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (BookRags)
    -STUDY GUIDE: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Super Summary)
    -STUDY GUIDE: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (HOWARD ALLEN, OCT 6, 2023, OwlCation)
    -STUDY GUIDE: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Interesting Literature)
    -STUDY GUIDE: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Grades Fixer)
    -ESSAY: Bierce and Biography: The Location of Owl Creek Bridge (David M. Owens, Spring 1994, American Literary Realism, 1870-1910)
    -ESSAY: 43 of the Most Iconic Short Stories in the English Language: From Washington Irving to Kristen Roupenian (Emily Temple, August 19, 2020, LitHub)
    -ESSAY: The Role Of Time In The Story An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge (EduBirdie)
    -ESSAY: Analysis of Ambrose Bierce’s An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (NASRULLAH MAMBROL, JUNE 2, 2021, Literary Theory and Criticism)
    -VIDEO ARCHIVES: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (YouTube)
    -REVIEW: of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce (Joshua Sampson, The Writing Post)
    -REVIEW: of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (ReadingBug)
    -REVIEW: of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Levi Savage Lowe, Paw Print)
    -REVIEW: of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (loloLit)
    -REVIEW: of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Eric Kemp, Teen Ink)

FILM:

    -FILMOGRAPHY: Ambrose Bierce (IMDB)
    -WIKIPEDIA: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (film)
    -FILMOGRAPHY: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1961) (IMDB)
    -ESSAY: Contextual Analysis of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge: Robert Enrico vs. Rod Serling (Donato Totaro Volume 18, Issue 4 / April 2014, Off Screen)
    -ESSAY: Story versus Film: “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (VIVIAN0314, 12/08/2014, Quaintrelle)
    -ESSAY: The 50 Greatest War Movies Ever Made A look back at a genre that has inspired a century of cinema. (Keith Phipps, 5/26/24, Vulture)

Book-related and General Links:
    -Ambrose Gwinett Bierce (1842-1914) (kirjasto)
    -ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA : "ambrose bierce"
    -ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA : bierce, ambrose
    -ETEXT : The Devil's Dictionary : Searchable Version (malacandra)
    -ETEXT : The Devil's Dictionary (Literature@SunSite)
    -ETEXT : The Devil's Dictionary (Erik Max Francis)
    -ETEXT : An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge  by  Ambrose Bierce
    -ETEXT : Killed At Resaca by  Ambrose Bierce
    -ETEXT : A Horseman in the Sky by Ambrose Bierce
    -ETEXT : Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce Online Collection
    -ETEXTS : SELECTED POETRY OF AMBROSE BIERCE (1842-1914?) (Representative Poetry On-line, Department of English at the University of Toronto)
    -ETEXTS : Poems
    -ETEXT : Ambrose Bierce's stinging denunciation of Oscar Wilde (appeared in the March 31, 1882, edition of "The Wasp.")
    -ANNOTATED ETEXTS : Ambrose Bierce Books Central (Encyclopaedia of the Self)
    -The Ambrose Bierce Appreciation Society
    -Don Swaim's Ambrose Bierce Site
    -Ambrose Bierce Patron Saint of Satire
    -Ambrose Bierce  (1842-1914?) Alan Gullette
    -The San Antonio College LitWeb Ambrose Bierce Page
    -Literary Research Guide: Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914)
    -PAL: Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?)
    -Bierce, Ambrose (The Literary Gothic)
    -Ambrose Bierce (Spartacus)
    -Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) (Blue Pete Biographies)
    -Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (Masonic Biographies)
    -ESSAY : Forked Tongue : The Language of Serpent in the Enlarged Devil's Dictionary of Ambrose Bierce (Andrew Graham)
    -ESSAY : Murphy's Law : Ambrose Bierce (1999) (John Patrick Michael Murphy)
    -ESSAY : Ambrose Bierce, 1842-1914? (Stacey Ann Singletary,  Student, University of North Carolina at Pembroke)
    -ARCHIVES :  "ambrose bierce" (Find Articles)
    -REVIEW: of AMBROSE BIERCE Alone in Bad Company by Roy Morris Jr. (David S. Reynolds, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW : of Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company by Roy Morris Jr. (Richard von Busack, MetroActive)
    -REVIEW : of Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company by Roy Morris Jr.  (Andrew Sargent, Book Wire)
    -REVIEW: of The Unwritten War: American Writers and the Civil War by Daniel Aaron Gone With the Wind (C. VANN WOODWARD, NY Review of Books)