A simple novella with an unexpected outcome.

Upon arrival at a rural monastery Brother Ambrosius meets Benedicta, the shunned and reviled daughter of the local hangman. Seeing it as his divine duty to protect her he embarks on a friendship which is a source of contempt for both his superiors and the local community.

I originally only decided to read this book because it was short and I didn't have a lot of time but I enjoyed it far more than I expected.

High 3*/low 4*

this is crazy work

After my review of The Devils by Aldous Huxley, not to mention my thoughts on Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber, it will come as a surprise to no one that I slammed this back in one sitting and enjoyed it thoroughly. The Monk and the Hangman's daughter is a haunting, shivery sort of read, and the prose is perfectly matched to the impact of the narrative. It's part fairy tale, part horror movie, and a touch of pilgrim's progress, which works to bring the story a sort of whimsy that keeps it from veering into the sordid. The effect is somewhere between 'The Juniper Tree' and 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.' Delightfully creepy, and overall a great way to spend a few hours.

Anither great read ob the Classic Tales Podcast

It is easy to understand why many don’t like this particular Bierce novella, as it feels like the actual plot is an after-thought. Very little character development happens and the narrative isn’t altogether convincing. However I really enjoyed the descriptions of the alpine environment, it reminded me of Jeremias Gotthelf’s The Black Spider and a little of Seethaller’s A Whole Life.

Bierce was a huge fan of the ironic twist, and that comes out in spades in the titular novella and seven short stories in this collection. From a monk who commits the ultimate sin for a misunderstood reason, to a series of civil war vignettes where death and life unexpectedly change places, Bierce's lush prose is consistently engrossing, physical, and often very funny. It is no surprise that many of his short stories were expanded into horror movies, suspense films, and twilight zone episodes.

Are monks and priests incels? That’s all I could think as I moved through this story, which does obfuscate that idea by putting the whole, “I’m just trying to save your soul” thing ahead of the monk’s desire to just get with the hangman’s daughter — or any of the other lovely maids who all seem to fuss over this hot young monk.

Anyway, I loved this story and I really enjoyed how certain misdirections (like the title, itself!) make the quite obvious-seeming ending still feel like a surprise. But that’s good writing, right? It works most effectively in showing how the naive, (hot) young monk is only just seemingly witnessing the world, and he’s so absorbed in the horror of anything outside the church that it sets the mood for the story really well. It is also interesting to see how this sort of sandwiches around the other “monks gone awry” literature of Matthew Lewis’s The Monk and Anne Radcliffe’s The Italian, being that it takes place (and was maybe, originally, written) before either of those stories, but this English translation was created a while after. This story is much more aligned with the latter, and is nowhere near as gruesome, or even truly entering the “gothic” realm. But it’s still very atmospheric and I did truly expect a real demon or something to show up at any moment. (The “entity” who does “appear” is very well placed and I love its ambiguity [?] as presented… Not to get into spoilers, but I don’t think it’s ambiguous at all. It does just leave enough room for there to be different readings. Also good writing!)

This is, I believe, my first Ambrose Bierce (or, it’s not, depending on where you come down on the questionable authorship debate.) So it was a surprise actually getting through someone’s work who was so influential on the dark, weird, and horror writers I conventionally enjoy, and being able to see where it all comes from. Definitely looking forward to reading more!