- In full:
- Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce
- Gwinnett also spelled:
- Gwinett or Gwinnet
- Died:
- January 1914?, Mexico? (aged 71)
Ambrose Bierce
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Who was Ambrose Bierce?
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) was an American newspaperman, satirist, and author known for his sardonic short stories on death and horror. He fought in the American Civil War, enlisting in 1861 and being seriously wounded in 1864.
After the war, Bierce became a literary arbiter on the West Coast, contributing to periodicals and becoming editor of the News Letter in 1868. From 1872 to 1875, he lived in England and wrote for London magazines. Later, he joined William Randolph Hearst’s San Francisco Examiner in 1887, writing the “Prattler” column.
His notable works include In the Midst of Life (1892) and The Devil’s Dictionary (1906). In 1913, Bierce went to Mexico, where he likely died in 1914.
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What kinds of stories and writing did Ambrose Bierce create?
Ambrose Bierce was an American author, satirist, and newspaperman known for his dark and sardonic short stories centered on death and horror. He was a master of the short story, with "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and others appearing in In the Midst of Life.
Bierce's writing also included social commentary. As a columnist, he wrote the "Prattler" column and was known for his critical attacks on various figures. His satirical lexicon, The Devil's Dictionary, offered barbed definitions of social, religious, and professional conventions. His Collected Works include two books of poetry.
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What is Ambrose Bierce's most famous short story?
Ambrose Bierce was an American author known for his sardonic short stories centered on death and horror. His most famous short story is "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," which was published in 1891 in Tales of Soldiers and Civilians. It was later revised and retitled In the Midst of Life in 1898. The story follows the final thoughts of a Southern planter as he is being hanged by Union soldiers, imagining his escape in the brief moments before his death. Some of his other notable works include "A Horseman in the Sky," "The Eyes of the Panther," and The Devil's Dictionary.
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How did Ambrose Bierce’s experiences in the Civil War influence his writing?
Ambrose Bierce, an American author, enlisted in the 9th Indiana Volunteers in 1861 and fought in the Civil War, participating in battles such as Shiloh and Chickamauga. He was seriously wounded in 1864 at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.
Bierce's experiences in the American Civil War profoundly influenced his writing, providing material for his best-known stories. After resettling in San Francisco, he became a literary figure, contributing to periodicals and becoming the editor of the News Letter in 1868. His stories often explore themes of death and horror, reflecting the impact of his wartime experiences.
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What is The Devil’s Dictionary, and why is it well known?
The Devil's Dictionary, by Ambrose Bierce, is a satirical collection of darkly humorous definitions of common terms, initially published in 1906 as The Cynic’s Word Book. Bierce began publishing these definitions in The Wasp, a weekly journal he edited in San Francisco from 1881 to 1886.
The dictionary is known for its terse, aphoristic style that lampoons social, professional, and religious conventions. Bierce's critical attacks on various figures and institutions, combined with his ironic and bitter tone, have made the dictionary a frequently reprinted and well-regarded work.
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How did Ambrose Bierce mysteriously disappear, and why is his disappearance famous?
Ambrose Bierce's disappearance in Mexico in 1913 remains a mystery. At the time, Bierce, tired of American life, traveled to Mexico, which was in the throes of the Mexican Revolution. After December 1913, no reliable record exists of his life. A reasonable theory suggests he was killed in the siege of Ojinaga in January 1914.
Bierce's mysterious disappearance has contributed to his fame. Before his disappearance, he was a well-known newspaperman, satirist, and author of sardonic short stories based on themes of death and horror. He was famous for his satirical column, "Prattler".
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Ambrose Bierce (born June 24, 1842, Meigs county, Ohio, U.S.—died January 1914?, Mexico?) was an American newspaperman, wit, satirist, and author of sardonic short stories based on themes of death and horror. His life ended in an unsolved mystery.
A Civil War soldier turned literary arbiter
Reared in Kosciusko county, Indiana, Bierce became a printer’s devil (apprentice) on a Warsaw, Indiana, paper after about a year in high school. In 1861 he enlisted in the 9th Indiana Volunteers and fought in a number of American Civil War battles, including Shiloh and Chickamauga. After being seriously wounded in the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in 1864, he served until January 1865, and he received a merit promotion to major in 1867.
The spelling of Bierce’s middle name is inconsistent across secondary material, and Bierce himself staked no clear claim. There’s less ambiguity around the origins of Bierce’s name: a play by Douglas William Jerrold about a man, Ambrose Gwinett, wrongfully accused of murder.
Resettling in San Francisco, which was experiencing an artistic renaissance, Bierce began contributing to periodicals, particularly the News Letter, of which he became editor in 1868. He was soon the literary arbiter of the West Coast. “The Haunted Valley” (1871) was his first story.
In December 1871 he married Mary Ellen Day, and from 1872 to 1875 the Bierces lived in England, where he wrote for the London magazines Fun and Figaro, edited the Lantern for the exiled French empress Eugénie, and published three books, The Fiend’s Delight (1872), Nuggets and Dust Panned Out in California (1872), and Cobwebs from an Empty Skull (1874).
Editing, mining, and a mysterious death
In 1877 he became associate editor of the San Francisco Argonaut but left it in 1879–80 for an unsuccessful try at placer mining in Rockerville in the Dakota Territory. Thereafter he was editor of the San Francisco Illustrated Wasp for five years. In 1887 he joined the staff of William Randolph Hearst’s San Francisco Examiner, for which he wrote the “Prattler” column.
In 1896 Bierce moved to Washington, D.C., where he continued newspaper and magazine writing.
In 1913, tired of American life, he went to Mexico, then in the middle of a revolution led by Pancho Villa. Bierce’s fate is a mystery, but a reasonable conjecture is that he was killed in the siege of Ojinaga in January 1914.
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Legacy and major works
Bierce separated from his wife, lost his two sons, and broke many friendships over the course of his career. As a newspaper columnist, he specialized in critical attacks on amateur poets, clergymen, bores, dishonest politicians, money grabbers, pretenders, and frauds of all sorts.
Bierce’s principal books are In the Midst of Life (1892), which includes some of his finest stories, such as “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” “A Horseman in the Sky,” “The Eyes of the Panther,” and “The Boarded Window”; and Can Such Things Be? (1893), which includes “The Damned Thing” and “Moxon’s Master.”
Bierce’s The Devil’s Dictionary (originally published in 1906 as The Cynic’s Word Book) is a volume of ironic, even bitter, definitions that has often been reprinted. His Collected Works was published in 12 volumes, 1909–12; it includes his two books of poetry.
The Enlarged Devil’s Dictionary, edited by E.J. Hopkins, first appeared in 1967. A Sole Survivor: Bits of Autobiography, edited by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, was published in 1998, and A Much Misunderstood Man: Selected Letters of Ambrose Bierce, also edited by Joshi and Schultz, was published in 2003.