• Prolific journalist and short story writer• Born in Ohio in June 1842• He later enrolled in the Kentucky

Military Institute– Served as an Union sergeant and

lieutenant in the Civil War– Fought in a number of major Civil War

battles• Moved to San Francisco after the war• Married in 1871

Moved around during his life: England, San Francisco, Washington

Had three children 2 of them died young His wife passed away in

1905

1913: traveled to Mexico Disappeared and was

never heard of again His death is unknown

• Genres– Satirist: critical of human society,

hypocrisy, pretense, political institutions

– Realism: attempt to “write reality”

• Journalism writing was often controversial• Influenced by Western American writers

such as Mark Twain

• Notable Works– “The Damned Thing”– “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (1891)– “Chickamauga”– The Devil’s Dictionary

American literary movement: 1865-1900 Writers portrayed reality/life as it really is

Objective details and events (rather than the ideal)

Faithful presentation of “reality”: ordinary and extraordinary

Characterization important Middle or lower-class characters Truthful characters Internal detail: stream of consciousness

“Local Color” literature Settings, customs, dialects of particular regions

Authors: Stephen Crane, Mark Twain, Kate Chopin, Edith Wharton, & Ambrose Bierce

Portrays an individual’s point of view through a written version of character’s thought process Individual’s subjective and ongoing mental

observations Often seems disjointed, fragmented, or illogical Internal monologue

Famous writers: Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” Internal dialogue of Peyton Farquhar Moves around in time: present to the past Meant to blur the line between reality and illusion

1. This story is filled with foreshadowing. What are some key examples, and how do they help us “figure” out the story?

2. What themes of life/death are suggested in the story?

3. How does the stream of consciousness technique blur the line between illusion and reality?

4. What is the effect of reading this account from inside Farquhar’s head? How might it be different otherwise?

5. Farquhar experiences several “out of body” senses and images in this story. What are some of those images? Do they seem “real” to you?

6. Why do you think Bierce wrote this story? What’s the point?