Most people have encountered Ambrose Bierce’s spooky Civil War-set “The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” likely as part of a short story reading assignment in either high school or college. I certainly read it more than once as an English major, and it is a story that I do enjoy.
It wasn’t until after I graduated that I started reading more of Bierce’s work beyond “Occurrence” and his deliciously snarky Devil’s Dictionary. Bierce ended up writing a lot of fiction about the Civil War (and a fair amount of nonfiction), which makes sense given he’s the only 19th century American writer of note to have served in combat during the war.
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