THE BODY OF BIERCE

Our pals at LOWFI have just posted a lengthy discourse by Brad Steiger on the legendary Ambrose Bierce…

“In the San Francisco of 1876, Ambrose Bierce reigned as unchallenged literary king, the best known writer west of the Rockies. Some of the contemporaries who nourished their lights in Bierce’s shadow are much better known today. Bret Harte, Jack London, and Joaquin Miller not only rate larger space in the textbooks, but their works remain easily available. Of Bierce’s voluminous writings, only a collection of short stories, In the Midst of Life, and fragments of The Devil’s Dictionary are easily obtainable. But if Bierce’s literary endeavors have not stood the test of time as well as those of certain of his contemporaries, he still enjoys a last laugh, because the mystery of his strange disappearance is better known than the entire life histories of Harte, London, and Miller.” (Click here for the whole thing)

And to give the story more heft, it comes hot on the heels of how…

“A construction worker in Chihuahua, Mexico unearthed what appear to be the remains of writer Ambrose Bierce from the basement of an old bordello demolished to make way for condominiums. Bierce scholars are excited about the unexpected discovery, considering that nearly a century of speculation as to what happened to the writer may finally be brought to an end. Rumored to have mysteriously disappeared in 1913 while investigating the Mexican revolution in his later years, 'Bitter Bierce' was well known in America for his disenchantment with politics, war, capitalism and his most favored target of all, human nature.”

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