Ambrose Bierce Tales of Soldiers & Civilians -The Collected Works of Ambrose

Bierce edited the twelve volumes of The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, which were published from 1909 to 1912. The seventh volume consists solely of The Devils Dictionary. Bierce has been criticized by his contemporaries and later scholars for deliberately pursuing improbability and for his penchant toward "trick endings". In his later stories, apparently under the influence of Maupassant, Bierce "dedicated himself to shocking the audience", as if his purpose was "to attack the readers smug intellectual security". Bierces bias towards Naturalism has also been noted "The biting, deriding quality of his satire, unbalanced by any compassion for his targets, was often taken as petty meanness, showing contempt for humanity and an intolerance to the point of merciless cruelty". Stephen Crane was of the minority of Bierces contemporaries who valued Bierces experimental short stories. Get Your Copy Now. | Ambrose Bierce Tales of Soldiers & Civilians -The Collected Works of Ambrose