While some may take issue with its inclusion in a collection of horror stories, I am hardly alone: Dover, Wordsworth, and Tartarus Press are just the most notable of nearly a dozen excellent anthologies of Bierce’s Gothic fiction which included the story (and Tartarus Press even used it as the title). It is a flawless example of American genius, like 'Sophisticated Lady' by Duke Ellington or the Franklin stove." Both in themes and execution it has a uniquely American quality: the breaking with linear narration, the cynical study of the eternal optimism of the individual, the condemnation of warfare and collectivism, the literary realism, and the psychological surrealism all conspire into a brilliant work. Concerning its legacy, fellow Hoosier, Kurt Vonnegut, wrote, "I consider anybody a twerp who hasn't read the greatest American short story, which is ' Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,' by Ambrose Bierce. There is almost no scholarly dissent to that argument.
“Owl Creek Bridge” is Bierce’s masterpiece.
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