Biography of Ambrose Bierce

The grisly job of cynicism

24 June 1842 11 July 1914 Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was born in Horse Cave Creek, a remote farm to Meigs County, Ohio (USA) on 24 June 1842. In the large family was the tenth son: at fifteen, tired of poverty, leaves the House to film the United States experiencing of gimmicks. One fine day an uncle, Lucius, his father's younger brother, decides to take him under his care. Lucius Bierce had built a fortune by becoming first a lawyer, then Mayor of the town of Akron. Thanks to his uncle Ambrose Bierce attended the Kentucky Military Institute where he learned, among other things, cartography, talent that allows him to enlist in 1861 as a volunteer in the army, just surveying tasks. These are the years of the civil war and Bierce who live in first person: from these experiences "Tales of soldiers and civilians" (1891, Tales of soldiers and civilians), a sampling of the horrors of war in which the ruthless vision and contemptuous of men, without exception, gives a sense of proportion of Bierce. Another aspect emerges here of the work of Bierce: the randomness of events together with the existence of the supernatural and the fantastic, which descend in everyday life. Born in this period even macabre and horror stories, heavily imbued with cynicism. Bierce is person who leads a life often the limits, not so much as defects as characteristic due to its ingrained sarcasm, which earned him the nickname "bitter", bad taste. At 24 years old Bierce, tired of military life, he abandoned the army to move to San Francisco, the city where he began his career as a journalist and writer. Initially lives of odd jobs, but soon became known for his attacks on politicians, men of ill repute and entrepreneurs, making these an enemy so much that it seems he used to carry a gun with him when he went around. The fortune of Bierce as a writer can be attributed mainly to his "Devil's Dictionary" (1911, The devil's dictionary-published in 1906 as The Cynic's Wordbook); its production however much further, starting from journalistic environment that sees the consecration of Bierce in the Examiner. His short stories are now considered among the best of the 19th century, especially those of war as "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (from which will be drawn three films over the years 1920, 1962 and 2005), "Killed at Resaca" and "Chickamauga". His contemporaries considered Bierce a master of style and language in all genres in which they worked, by the mentioned war stories to tales of ghosts and poetry. The fantastic tales of Bierce anticipate the style of the grotesque that would become later in the 20th century a veritable literary genre. In 1871 Bierce marries a rich and beautiful girl and thanks to her father does a long honeymoon in London: England tries to publish his works, but does not get success. In 1904 he divorces his wife, who had given him three children, two of whom died tragically. The death of the writer is still a big mystery: in 1913, at 71 years old, Bierce embarked on civil war-torn Mexico Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata and disappeared forever, mysteriously without a trace (during the battle of Ojinaga, the day January 11, 1914). There are numerous authors who inspired him: these include Robert w. Chambers, HP Lovecraft and Robert Bloch; Bierce appears as a character in the novel "Lost Legacy" by Robert a. Heinlein, in "The Oxoxoco Bottle" of Gerald Kersh (reads as if it were a manuscript of Bierce dating back to his last trip). Bierce is quoted and appeared in productions in every field, from cinema to the novel, from music to comics.

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