Ambrose Bierce's Civilians and Soldiers in Context: A Critical StudyAmbrose Bierce's In the Midst of Life, the second volume of The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, is hailed by critics and scholars alike as his most important literary work. In Ambrose Bierce's Civilians and Soldiers in Context: A Critical Study, Donald T. Blume refutes this and instead identifies Bierce's original 1892 collection as his most definitive and authoritative work. The two subsequent collections, appearing in 1898 and 1909, although containing subtle clues pointing back to the importance of the 1892 collection, are in their primary effect literary red herrings. This new study reveals that the nineteen stories that comprised the original Tales of Soldiers and Civilians consist of carefully developed and interrelated meanings and themes that can only be fully understood by examining the complex circumstances of their original productions. By considering each of the nineteen tales in the order in which they were first published and by drawing heavily on contemporary related materials, Blume re-creates much of the original milieu into which Bierce carefully placed his short stories. Blume systematically examines many of Bierce's editing flaws, exposing that Bierce's decisions often weakened the original literary merits of his stories. Ultimately this story reveals, tale by tale and layer by layer, that the nineteen stories included in Bierce's 1892 collection were masterpieces of fiction, destined to become classics. Historians and Civil War enthusiasts, as well as literary scholars, will welcome this new study. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 69
... body of additional material , much of which remains uncol- lected , to the Examiner during this same period . Indirectly , this abundance of uncollected material has meant that the few scholars who have examined Bierce's newspaper ...
... bodies . While the men are entertain- ing themselves with the grave's contents ( including the discovery of iron py- rite , or fool's gold , in the grave ) , one of the women , Mrs. Porfer , wanders away , ostensibly because of her ...
... body , suggests that Bierce's Christmas story was already taking shape . One week prior to the publication of " A Holy Terror , " on the editorial page of the Wasp for the December 16 , 1882 , issue , Bierce included the epi- thet at ...
... bodies cruising about — privateers , steering hither and thither without any definite destination , but aiming at making themselves generally dis- agreeable . There were always some of the fellows sailing about in this des- ultory way ...
... body both meanings . In the aftermath of her falling out with Jo Seeman , following a brief play for Doman's sympathies with a fabricated story about the origins of her dis- figurement , Matthews , readily deducing that Doman is not ...
Contents
1 | |
34 | |
Killed at Resaca | 64 |
One of the Missing | 83 |
A Son of the Gods | 99 |
A Tough Tussle | 114 |
Chickamauga | 124 |
The Horseman in the Sky | 145 |
The Watcher by the Dead | 193 |
The Man and the Snake | 203 |
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge | 211 |
The Middle Toe of the Right Foot | 244 |
Haïta the Shepherd | 259 |
James Adderson Philosopher and Wit | 276 |
An Heiress from Redhorse | 302 |
The Boarded Window | 315 |
The Coup de Grâce | 161 |
The Suitable Surroundings | 179 |
The Affair at Coulters Notch | 185 |
The Collections | 329 |