Ambrose Bierce
The author of the satirical book, The Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce, was an interesting man, with a strange life, focused mainly around literary accomplishments. His published works in newspapers and public journals made serious impact on political affairs, and he was constantly challenging the complacence of his social peers. In short, Ambrose Bierce was living proof that the pen is indeed, mightier than the sword. Despite his own literary accomplishments and blunders, he was also a vehement critic of the work of other authors, whether the literary medium was journalism, novel, or otherwise. His work is most obviously inspired by a sarcastic and sardonic attitude towards life in general, most of which was granted through typically perilous life experiences. The most mysterious event in Bierce’s life, was actually his death. In 1914, Ambrose Bierce disappeared off the face of the planet; remains never surfaced.
He was nicknamed “Bitter Bierce” because of his particularly nasty attitude, but despite Bierce’s outward perspective, he was also known to encourage fledgling writers, and god knows, you don’t find many people like that. Ambrose Bierce was born in Ohio, like many known eccentrics, and his father, Marcus Aurelius Bierce, was no exception. He had thirteen children and gave them all names that started with the letter “A”. Abigail, Amelia, Ann, Addison, Aurelius, Augustus, Almeda, Andrew, Albert, Ambrose, Arthur, Adelia, and Aurelia. Ambrose Bierce’s mother was a descendant of William Bradford, elected governor of the Plymouth colony thirty times. Ambrose enlisted in the army, and sustained numerous wounds while fighting in the American Civil War; later on in life, he would continue suffering from these wounds.
When he was older, Ambrose Bierce married a woman named Mary Ellen/Mollie Day. Later on they divorced when it was determined that she was having a secret love affair. Before they divorced they had three children, two sons and a daughter. Bierce’s two sons both died before him, one shot in a brawl over a woman, the other died of pneumonia born of consistent alcoholism. After Ambrose divorced his wife, she died the following year. Ambrose withdrew further into the literary community after the perils of family concluded, and began working in various mediums, mainly journalism and short fictions. Chiefly, he worked as a sort of henchman, and of course journalist, for William Randolph Hearst, the owner of the San Francisco Examiner, one of the most influential papers in the industry of writers and journalists.