Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914)

Lovecraft nos habla de Ambrose Bierce en ‘El horror sobrenatural en la litaratura’: ”Prácticamente, todos sus cuentos son de horror, y aunque muchos tratan sólo de horrores físicos y psicológicos, dentro del orden natural, hay un número considerable que incorpora lo malignamente sobrenatural. Es el gran creador de sombras.”

Poco se puede decir de Ambrose Bierce que no se haya dicho ya. “Bitter” Bierce (el amargo Bierce), como lo bautizaron los ingleses, es uno de los mejores show more cuentistas de la literatura norteamericana, y por extensión mundial, a la altura de figuras como Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain o Jack London. Bierce es conocido por su sarcasmo caústico, su misantropía y su descarnado humor negro, pero también hay que tener en cuenta que revolucionó la manera de acercarse a las historias de terror.

Algo a destacar de la obra fantástica de Bierce, es su capacidad para dotar de verosimilitud a lo que nos está narrando, aunque nunca lleguemos a saber si se basa en hechos reales o leyendas. Puede que te esté hablando de extraños fenómenos, como desapariciones o muertos que se levantan de sus tumbas, que te consta que no pueden suceder, pero siempre te queda una pequeña duda. Bierce no se plantea dar explicaciones racionales, simplemente te cuenta, con su particular estilo periodístico, cómo suceden las cosas.

Historias como la fascinante ‘Un habitante de Carcosa’, nos hablan de la legendaria Carcosa, y servirían de inspiración tanto a Lovecraft como a su círculo más íntimo, evocando su atmósfera, donde la desolación y las civilizaciones ancestrales recuerdan a la mitología de Cthulhu.

De entre los cuarenta y dos relatos incluidos en '¿Pueden suceder tales cosas?', se pueden destacar los siguientes, todos ellos obras maestras: ‘La muerte de Halpin Frayser’, ‘Suceso en el puente sobre el río Owl’, ‘Una carretera iluminada por la luna’, ‘El maestro de Moxon’, ‘Un vigilante junto al muerto’, ‘El hombre y la serpiente’, ‘El dedo corazón del pie derecho’, ‘El engendro maldito’, ‘Los ojos de la pantera’, ‘Soldadesca del pueblo’, ‘Algunas casas encantadas’ y ‘El clan de los parricidas’.

En resumen, una obra imprescindible de un autor imprescindible. show less

I thought I was picking up a story of forbidden passion and sundered lovers, but instead got a portrait of religious hypocrisy and, intensely depicted, narcissitic obsession and objectification of the "loved" person as a recepticle for the emotions of the protagonist. It's clear that Bierce has no sympathy for the actions of the main character, the monk, Ambrosius, but neither is he portrayed as a stock, moustache-twirling gothic villain. In presenting the narrative from the single point of show more view of Ambrosius's diary, Bierce ran the risk of seeming to empathise with or justify the monk's self-absorbed fantasies, but he's too good a writer for that, thankfully.

How much of this sentiment is in the original German-language story by [author:Richard Voss|232971], which Bierce co-translated, I don't know, but in his introduction he states that he added much material of his own, as well a translating Voss.

Gothic conventions he did use include: perverse monks; febrile religious passions; peasant village life; wild, rugged mountain landscapes; the dead, and intimations of mortality and doom. All to good effect. show less

A most peculiar story about a peculiar officer in the Union Army with a most peculiar approach to taking risks in the face of death written by a man who had himself seen service in the American Civil War. Courage is portrayed here as a pathology but one that remains mysterious to the reader.

Published in 1883, Bierce's mordant detachment is in evidence here as always. He refuses to give you much of a reason for George Thurston's strange behaviour. The effect on the reader is one of deep show more unease which is hard to pin down as to its cause.

I suspect this unease comes from the portrayal less of the man than the fact that we can never really know other minds. Our own world begins to feel not a little shaky when we come across sustained inexplicable behaviour on to which we will want to project our own theories.

There is also a sub-text about the values of honour and courage that sustain men in war. In both areas, Thurston would appear to excel and yet we find ourselves wondering what if any moral base underpins his extreme behaviour.

Even today, with our much wider language for explanation, ranging from the Freudian to the current obsession with sociopathy, this man confuses us. He undermines the natural order in some way that we cannot put our finger on. We cannot simply invent knowledge to understand him. show less

Maybe I'm just really morbid but this book hooked me in right from the title and kept my attention all the way to the end. It consists of 4 short stories, all of which are about people who killed their parents. Disturbing, right? But so compelling (and hilarious!) to read. What I love best is that the author Bierce does not rely on graphic details of the murders but instead uses a more pedantic prose style, peppered with plenty of dry wit and whimsy, to hike up the horror of the stories. And show more these stories are absolutely horrific, grotesque, appalling... I also love the fact that the protagonists are all so matter-of-fact about their crimes, as if it was just a minor inconvenience in their lives. show less