"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Penguin 60s) (edition 1995)

Kurt Vonnegut once said he "considers anybody a Twerp who hasn’t read the greatest American short story, which is 'Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,' by Ambrose Bierce...It is a flawless example of American genius."

Perhaps not the greatest, but it makes you think. ( )

A near perfect shorty story. I remember reading this, and seeing a television adaptation in class, while I was in junior high and being blown away. I wasn't used to being blown away by books we were supposed to read for school and this was one of the first times where I got an inkling of what fiction could do...though at the time I didn't really understand that; all I knew was that it was very cool. ( )

I read this for an English assignment and went head to head with my English professor on the story's symbolism. I admit, much of the conflict was just me trying to get a rise out of her - she could be quite close-minded when it came to interpretations that differed from her own. Anyway, I enjoyed the story quite a lot. I also recommend watching the French short film of the story called "La Rivière du Hibou" from 1963. If it looks familiar, it's probably because they aired it once as an episode of "The Twilight Zone".http://iheartpaperbacks.wordpress.com ( )

I remember this story first from watching the Twilight Zone episode it was based on. A man facing death, finds a way to escape, or does he? I would recommend The Secret Miracle by Jorge Borges if you liked this. ( )

In Asia, aphorism is a high art; there, the greatest of poems may be said in one breath. In the West, our greatest poems come in books numbered twelve, and only the greatest of men can remember the length of them.

However, we still maintain our aphorists, though often consider them as comical wits, would do well to remember the skill of indicating truth is with them. There is the poet, Nietzsche, who is also a philosopher and who summed up the goal of the aphorist well: "It is my...more In Asia, aphorism is a high art; there, the greatest of poems may be said in one breath. In the West, our greatest poems come in books numbered twelve, and only the greatest of men can remember the length of them.

However, we still maintain our aphorists, though often consider them as comical wits, would do well to remember the skill of indicating truth is with them. There is the poet, Nietzsche, who is also a philosopher and who summed up the goal of the aphorist well: "It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what everyone else says in a whole book — what everyone else does not say in a whole book." There is the politician, Disraeli, who found that ruling men meant understanding a plural and remarkable simplicity. There is the self-concerned wit Wilde, who told us that genius lies in misunderstanding and is so widely and unknowingly quoted that it is a cliche.

Speak what you will of Twain, but Bierce is America's entreant into the minute art; Twain would admit as much, himself. Indeed, Clemens considered 'The Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge' to be the single greatest short story of all Americans.

The man who copies the Psalms onto a grain of rice has condensed space, but the author who places the depth of a book into a short story has condensed meaning. The utterly deliberate and unfettered Owl Creek is a difinitively superior work, just as the man who strikes the bull's eye with his arrow by chance is never the equal to the one that may do so at his leisure.

There is an old French film which makes an excellent adaptation of this work, and which was once featured on the Twilight Zone, if that lends any notion of its quality. ( )