A Much Misunderstood Man: Selected Letters of Ambrose Bierce"The binding thread throughout this edited collection of Ambrose Bierce's letters is the argument that Bierce has too often vilified as a cynical misanthrope. Joshi and Schultz believe that Bierce's human side has been ignored by scholars, and they work here to rectify this oversight. The importance of this collection is underscored by the fact that no collection of Bierce's letters has been published since 1922. This selection represents a sampling of nearly one-half million words of Bierce's correspondence, which Joshi and Schultz are the first to gather and transcribe." "The letters reveal many sides of Bierce that he deliberately concealed in his literary work: the caring father who keenly felt the deaths of his two sons and took constant interest in the welfare of his only daughter; the literary giant of San Francisco who gathered around him a substantial cadre of disciples whose work he encouraged and meticulously criticized; the vigorous castigator of chicanery, hypocrisy, and injustice wherever he saw it; and the author of coyly flirtatious letters to a number of female correspondents. For the first time, a well-rounded picture of Bierce the man and writer emerges in his own words. The volume ends chillingly with Bierce's last surviving letter, written from Chihuahua, Mexico, on December 26, 1913, which concludes: "As for me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination." Bierce was never heard from again." "The letters have been scrupulously edited from manuscript sources and exhaustively annotated to elucidate obscure historical, literary, and other references."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
Contents
To Bret Harte December1870 | 3 |
To John H Carmany February 1871? | 5 |
To John H Carmany 15 March 1871 | 6 |
Copyright | |
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AB's Ambrose Bierce Army and Navy Beetles in Amber Bierce's Black Beetles Blanche California Carmel Chamberlain Charles Warren Stoddard Cosmopolitan course criticism D.C. Dear Dear George Dear Scheff Devil's Dictionary doubtless edition editor Edwin Markham enclose fancy fear feel George Sterling girl glad GS's H. L. Mencken Hearst Herman Scheffauer BL hope Jack London kind knew letter literary literature live magazine Markham matter mind Miss Christiansen Navy Club never newspaper notion NYPL October Passing Show Percival Pollard poem poet poetry Prattle pretty publication published Robertson S. T. Joshi San Francisco satire Scheffauer BL transcript Sincerely sorry story stuff suppose tell Thank things thought told verses volume W. C. Morrow Walter Neale Washington William Randolph Hearst Wine of Wizardry wish words write written wrote York American