Despite being as popular, if not more popular, in his time than his friend and contemporary Mark Twain, nowadays Ambrose Bierce is largely surpassed by the fame of the former.
A. Despite being as popular, if not more popular, in his time than his friend and contemporary Mark Twain, nowadays Ambrose Bierce is largely surpassed by the fame of the former.
It should be “as popular as, if not more popular than, his friend”. Moreover, not Ambrose himself but his fame is surpassed by the fame of Mark.
B. Despite the fact of Ambrose Bierce being as popular, if not more popular, in his time than his friend and contemporary Mark Twain, nowadays he is largely surpassed by the fame of the latter.
It should be “as popular as, if not more popular than, his friend”. Moreover, not Ambrose himself but his fame is surpassed by the fame of Mark.
C. Nowadays largely surpassed by the fame of his friend and contemporary Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce's writing was as popular in his own time as the former's was, if not more so.
It’s illogical to say that Bierce's writing itself is surpassed by the FAME of his friend. q
D. Although nowadays, Ambrose Bierce's fame is largely surpassed by that of his friend and contemporary Mark Twain, in his own time, he was as popular as the latter, if not more so.
Correct choice, “that” correctly refers to “fame”. “as popular as” is appropriately used. Parallel things are compared.
E. Ambrose Bierce's writing was as popular in his time as his friend and contemporary Mark Twain, if not more so, but nowadays his fame is largely surpassed by that of the latter.
Comparing writing with a person is illogical.
So D