Bierce, Ambrose: 1842-1914?

Information about Ambrose Bierce

  • Facts
    • Information from Wikipedia
    • Chronology
    • Bibliography
    • Brief biography read by Charles Deaton. Can be used as listening comprehension exercise.
      • Transcript
        Ambrose Bierce was born on June 24, 1842, in Meigs County, Ohio.

        He was raised in poverty on a farm in Indiana, and grew to hate farm life. He found his way through his teenage years by reading books. When he was old enough, he left home to live with his uncle, and later attended a military academy for a year, and then dropped out. After that he worked odd jobs here and there.

        In 1861 the Civil War broke out and Bierce enlisted in the Union Army. He was a great help in the war, rose through the ranks, and won many honors. Bierce was deeply shocked by what he saw during the war, and afterwards wrote several short stories based on this experience. Due to a severe injury to his head, he had to return home.

        Later he moved to San Francisco, and in 1867 decided to get into journalism and started contributing to papers. He wrote many short stories, as well as articles and editorials. In 1871 he married and lived with his family in England for four years.

        Back in California Bierce wrote for the "San Francisco Examiner." He was the local satirist, and was prominent among the writers of California's "Literary Frontier." He established himself as a kind of literary dictator of the West Coast and was so respected and feared as a critic that his judgement could "make or break" a young author's reputation.

        After his divorce in 1905, and the deaths of two of his sons, Bierce decided to go to Mexico in 1913 to leave behind his American life. He was never heard from again. There were many rumors of his death. Some believed he committed suicide, and some believed he was killed. The estimated date of his death is sometime in January of 1914, but his death will forever remain a mystery.

    • Movies based on Ambrose Bierce
    • Bierce's Home in Warsaw, Indiana
  • Articles
    • The many deaths of Ambrose Bierce: "I kept up a two-year correspondence with Padre Jaime Lienert, who served as pastor to a wide desert community that included Sierra Mojada, an isolated mountain town, where Ambrose Bierce was killed once again by suspicious government soldiers." Forrest Gander, The Paris Review; March 19, 2014
    • Whatever Happened to Ambrose Bierce: "Long before he met his, Ambrose wryly described the nature of death as “not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate.”" Daily Knowledge Newsletter; October 17, 2014
    • Horror design in Ambrose Bierce’s war stories: fantasy or realism?: "We find a man that hates war, criticises it, depicts it as hell on earth, but considers there is a reason to fight in it."