ambrose bierce: S & D

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everyone says this dude is great, but which of his books are good to read? i've got the devil's dictionary, which i've browsed a bit, but it's not really the kind of thing you read straight through.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Sunday, 13 August 2006 12:20 (nineteen years ago)

Ned to thread, since he's a huge huge Bierce fan, although he doesn't really read ILB.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 13 August 2006 15:59 (nineteen years ago)

Get one of his short story collections - Penguin Classics do a great one of US Civil War stories, or Dover has a great collection of his ghost/supernatural stories. He really is great - bitter, clever, funny (in a murky sort of way), perceptive and inventive.

― James Morrison (JRSM), Tuesday, 15 August 2006 22:42 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, hey, my Ned to thread message got through after all. And then took ILX down with it. Hrm.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 15 August 2006 23:48 (nineteen years ago)

I've got a collection of his civil war journalism which is really very good.

― Matt (Matt), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 10:05 (nineteen years ago)

what's it called?

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 11:14 (nineteen years ago)

'The Devil's Dictionary'

― M. White (Miguelito), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 13:02 (nineteen years ago)

It's called "Phantoms of a Blood-Stained Period". Published by University of Massachusetts press.

― Matt (Matt), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 20:44 (nineteen years ago)

My sense of Bierce is that he is appreciated less for his excellence as a writer than for his curmudgeonly opinions and cynical outlook, which were somewhat peculiar during his age of rampant optimism over the March of Civilization and Perfectability of Humankind, and therfore make him more congenial to modern sensibilities.

His fictional writings seem a bit overwrought to me, and he strains his prose to make his points. IOW, he's not bad, but he's not great either. OTOH, he lived during the first blooming of great journalism, and I haven't read his journalistic pieces. They might easily be his best work for all I know and are probably well worth looking into.

― Aimless (Aimless), Thursday, 17 August 2006 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

four years pass...

Happy 169th

― in an arrangement that mimics idiocy (Michael White), Friday, 24 June 2011 15:01 (fourteen years ago)

devil's dictionary is a must for kindle browsing

― Chunks on strippers is the game of my frog (darraghmac), Friday, 24 June 2011 15:08 (fourteen years ago)

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/haloofflies/bierce.jpg

― Brad C., Friday, 24 June 2011 18:56 (fourteen years ago)

is that a man with a manatee head? or a dolphin? a lizard-man? sturgeon-man?

― j., Saturday, 25 June 2011 01:18 (fourteen years ago)

has he died yet?

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 25 June 2011 01:31 (fourteen years ago)

Still in Mexico afaik.

― Fizzles the Chimp (GamalielRatsey), Monday, 27 June 2011 12:52 (fourteen years ago)

Captured by something imo

But what could the disappearance of one Ambrose, in Texas, have to do with the disappearance of another Ambrose, in Canada? Was somebody collecting Ambroses?

― you don't exist in the database (woof), Monday, 27 June 2011 13:02 (fourteen years ago)

given how often it is anthologised or referenced, I do find myself thinking sometimes that he must have written only "Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge".

― The New Dirty Vicar, Tuesday, 5 July 2011 17:05 (fourteen years ago)

i remember liking that a lot but i read it a long time ago. should have the collection of his stuff w/ that in it around somewhere i should pull it out again

― *smoke goes back in the blunt* (D-40), Sunday, 10 July 2011 23:46 (fourteen years ago)

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