Talk:Ambrose Bierce

Commercial links

The e-text list contains links to a very commercial site, abacci.com. Do we need those links in a site like wikipedia? The Devil's Dictionary, Fantastic Fables and some short stories of his are available in html and text formats at sites like Project Gutenberg's promo.net/pg, ipl.org, blackmask.com, etc. These sites don't even have pop-up ads and thus qualify to be linked in a site like this. Just my two paisa. - C

if you can replace commercial links with non-commercial equivalents, go for it! :-) -- Tarquin 19:17, 29 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I did. :-)

Devil's Dictionary entry?

Perhaps a entry for The Devil's Dictionary should be created...? DryGrain 19:42, 16 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Link suggestions

An automated Wikipedia link suggester has some possible wiki link suggestions for the Ambrose_Bierce article, and they have been placed on this page for your convenience.
Tip: Some people find it helpful if these suggestions are shown on this talk page, rather than on another page. To do this, just add {{User:LinkBot/suggestions/Ambrose_Bierce}} to this page. — LinkBot 00:56, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Appearances in literature

If I recall correctly, Bierce made a significant appearance in one of Bradbury's tales, which I think should be mentioned here, but I don't have the book on hand at the moment. I'll try to remember to come back and add it when I have the reference, unless someone beats me to it. KathL 08:34, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

Also, Bierce is a major character in Peter King's series of books about Jack London, though I've forgotten which of his books those were. Although I believe one was called the Jewel of the North. Caelicoli 08:04, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

Jack Finney

In Jack Finney’s short story “Of Missing Persons” (1955), Ambrose Bierce is mentioned as having migrated to Verna, the planet located “light years away” (par. 51). The travel agent, who is about to sell a prospective client a ticket to Verna, explains about their branch in Mexico City which opened in nineteen thirteen: “Ambrose Bierce joined us that year, or the next. He lived until nineteen thirty-one, a very old man, and wrote four more books, which we have.” (par. 68). This information, I think, should be included in this article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.131.22.98 (talk) 19:40, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

List of Short Stories

The list of short stories is unbelievably incomplete. (For example: it lists some stories from Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, but not even close to all of them. In fact, it doesn't even include some of the stories mentioned elsewhere in the article.) Whether or not it should even be included is likely debatable, but I'll take a shot at expanding it when I get home and can get access to my volume of his collected fiction. (Of course, the question then becomes: does Fantastic Fables count as a collection of short stories or not?) 131.202.114.171 18:34, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

I think on the whole you're right that the list doesn't belong in the article; a bibliography is all that's needed. I assume that that's what "Primary books" is meant to be; could that just be renamed "Bibliography" or "Publications", and the list of short stories removed? --Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 16:43, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

It would have to be expanded a bit from its current state, but I think that would work. Since I never got around to doing the short stories list, I'll get on that now. g026r 02:23, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Hrm. Turns out I'm missing publication dates on some books: The Monk & the Hangman's Daughter (although I believe this one is either 1891 or 1892. It was first serialised in '91, before it was published as a book.), and Fantastic Fables. I also am missing information on whether The Parenticide Club, and Negligible Tales were ever published as individual works, or only as parts of the various collected works. g026r 02:30, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Agreed, totally incomplete, and not required in this article. The bibliography and list of works is fine. Trying to list every short story (horror, war and tall tale), is ridiculuous. If it needs to be included, at all, it should be its own page, not on the main Bierce page. HæSúsê 18:54, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Let's just include the short stories at Wikisource. As you've said, all we need here is a bibliography that lists some anthologies. Galanskov 13:07, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure if I'm using this page correctly. I have two issues:

1) What is the meaning of the dates listed after some of the short stories? Clearly it can't mean the year of writing or first publication, as in many cases the date is much later than the publication date of the collection in which the story appeared.

2) Under "Literary Movement", "Realism" is listed when clearly Bierce's tales are fantastic, not to mention the fact that THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY defines Realism as something like "reality as observed by toads". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.188.86.137 (talk) 18:16, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Railroad Refinancing Bill

I don't have the details or a reference at hand, but when Bierce was a relatively young man he was sent from California to Washington, DC, by his publisher to oppose the Railroad Refinancing Bill, a daring piece of larceny by which the railroads which had been given large chunks of land from the public domain to finance the construction of transcontinental rail lines--on condition of paying for it as a loan, on very favorable terms--tried to have the repayment postponed exactly a hundred years. A crucial element of this plot was secrecy: the bill was to be voted on without any public mention of its contents. Bierce's main effort, therefore, was to make the bill public knowledge. He did, and forced the defeat of the bill. J S Ayer 03:03, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

If I recall correctly, an episode, perhaps this one, is described in Richard O'Connor's Ambrose Bierce: a Biography. Bierce thereby earned the hatred, I believe, of Collis P. Huntington. If someone has the time to look the incident up, it would be well worth adding to the section on Bierce's journalism career. logologist|Talk 08:50, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Short Stories- Descriptions

The list of short stories is ok but there are only descriptions to only a few, quite sad really. "The death of halpin Frayser" is a wonderful short story, as well as "The Damned Thing" These are his most popular stories, yet the only remotely popular story with a description is "Moxon's Master" Maybe I or someone else could fill in some of the more important blanks. Just a thought. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Hewhoisiam (talk • contribs) 14:52, 16 January 2007 (UTC).

Dod Grile?

Who was Dod Grile? Is this a pen name? Bastie 11:01, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Dod Grile (or Dog Rile) was a facetious pseudonym used by Bierce (he used a few others in the same vein).

A list of these pseudonyms would probably be useful to the article. Bastie (talk) 18:00, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Bierce's fate in Mexico?

• See Dale Walker's "Legends and Lies Great Mysteries of the Old West" {1997} {reference only}

The Battle of Tierra Blanca was fought in November 1913 but the article suggests that he entered Mexico in December 1913 - is this an error? Drutt (talk) 10:25, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Bierce in London

Should this not read that, "For health reasons Bierce traveled to London, where he befriended literary greats, not to befriend them? Current edit presupposes that he befriends them for aid in his health, I believe. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.84.123.182 (talk) 22:05, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Moving OR or opinion to Talk

This is OR or opinion of contributor - moving here to Talk.

"But beyond that, the compression of time that is the most stunning aspect of the story has been exploited in countless movies. Terry Gilliam's Brazil is only the most celebrated example."

-- 201.53.7.16 (talk) 12:42, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, good call. Beyond the fact that it is an opinion, I am not even sure that the statement makes sense. What "compression of time" is he talking about, and why is Terry Gilliam's Brazil "the most celebrated example"? Utter nonsense. ---RepublicanJacobite_{The'FortyFive'} 15:25, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

Problem with Logan Circle

The picture of Bierce's residence in Washington DC is of 18 Logan (formerly Iowa) Circle, I've seen this address mentioned in many places as one of Bierce's many DC address, and I've not saying that he did not live at this address, BUT the problem is, this particular building was build in 1914, one year after Bierce left DC never to return. Click on the picture for details.