摘要：Os contos de Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) receberam e ainda recebem pouca atenção da crítica literária tanto estadunidense quanto internacional. Uma das razões por ter sido excluído dos círculos literários da época, segundo os estudiosos, foi seu temperamento beligerante e confrontador. O desdém e sarcasmo com que se dirigia às figuras ilustres de seu tempo estão bem registrados nos jornais onde trabalhou como escritor e editor. No entanto, o aspecto experimental e vanguardista de sua prosa tem sido apontado como o principal elemento de sua exclusão dos ambientes literários. Este texto tem por objetivo examinar alguns contos de guerra de Bierce visando apontar elementos que o colocaram como um escritor à frente de seu tempo. Serão aqui examinadas as estratégias literárias que Bierce utiliza ao questionar a visão racional e dualista da mente e dos processos cognitivos. Palavras-chave: Bierce; realism; cognição. Abstract: The short stories of Ambrose Bierce (1842 – 1914?) received little attention during Bierce’s time and today they still remain somewhat in the margins of the literary canon. One reason for such exclusion, according to scholars, was Bierce’s confrontational and belligerent temperament. His attacks on popular figures of the time as well as sarcasm and scorn towards cultural and literary trends are well recorded in the essays and editorials he wrote for the newspapers where he worked as a reporter and editor. The majority agrees, however, that it is the avant-garde and experimental aspects of his prose that have placed him outside the main literary circles of the late nineteenth-century. This essay aims at examining some of his war stories in light of this argument, namely, as narratives that were much ahead of their time in terms of thematic depth and world-view. This essay will examine, therefore, the textual and plot strategies Bierce employed to question the dualist views of mind and body prevailing in his time. Keywords: Bierce; realism; cognition.
其他摘要：The short stories of Ambrose Bierce (1842 – 1914?) received little attention during Bierce’s time and today they still remain somewhat in the margins of the literary canon. One reason for such exclusion, according to scholars, was Bierce’s confrontational and belligerent temperament. His attacks on popular figures of the time as well as sarcasm and scorn towards cultural and literary trends are well recorded in the essays and editorials he wrote for the newspapers where he worked as a reporter and editor. The majority agrees, however, that it is the avant-garde and experimental aspects of his prose that have placed him outside the main literary circles of the late nineteenth-century. This essay aims at examining some of his war stories in light of this argument, namely, as narratives that were much ahead of their time in terms of thematic depth and world-view. This essay will examine, therefore, the textual and plot strategies Bierce employed to question the dualist views of mind and body prevailing in his time.
