A Prescription for Adversity: The Moral Art of Ambrose Bierce

Berkove (English, U. of Michigan-Dearborn) studies the short fiction of Ambrose Bierce, hoping to explain his philosophical inclination and how it impacted his work as a literary artist. He analyzes the texts of representative Bierce tales and seeks additional evidence from Bierces' biography, correspondence, and journalism. Berkove argues that the seeming hardness of Bierce came from deeply-held human values that clashed with a recognition that life was not benign and that human beings lacked an innate goodness. Annotation c. Book News, Inc.,Portland, OR