Ambrose Bierce
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"The frank yet graceful use of "I" distinguishes a good writer from a bad; the latter carries it with the manner of a thief trying to cloak his loot." --The Devil's Dictionary (1906) by Ambrose Bierce "Marriage : (n.) A household consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves, making in all, two."--The Devil's Dictionary (1906) by Ambrose Bierce "Gunpowder : (n.) "Milton says it was invented by the devil to dispel angels with, and this opinion seems to derive some support from the scarcity of angels."--The Devil's Dictionary (1906) by Ambrose Bierce |
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Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – 1914?) was an American editorialist, journalist, short-story writer and satirist, today best known for his Devil's Dictionary.
Bierce's lucid, unsentimental style has kept him popular when many of his contemporaries have been consigned to oblivion. His dark, sardonic views and vehemence as a critic earned him the nickname, "Bitter Bierce." Such was his reputation that it was said his judgment on any piece of prose or poetry could make or break a writer's career. Among the younger writers whom he encouraged were the poet George Sterling and the fiction writer W. C. Morrow.
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Bibliography
Books
- The Fiend's Delight (1873) (novella)
- Cobwebs from an Empty Skull (1874) (short story collection)
- The Dance of Death (with Thomas A. Harcourt and William Rulofson, as William Herman) (1877)
- Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891) (short story collection)
- Black Beetles in Amber (1892) (poetry)
- The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter (1892) (novella)
- Can Such Things Be? (1893) (short story collection)
- Fantastic Fables (1899) (short story collection)
- The shadow on the dial, and other essays (1909) (nonfiction)
- The Devil's Dictionary (1911) (first published in book form as The Cynic's Wordbook, 1906) (nonfiction)
- Collected Works (1909) (short story collection)
- Write It Right (1909) (nonfiction)
- A Horseman in the Sky, A Watcher by the Dead, The Man and the Snake (1920) (novella)
- A Vision of Doom: Poems by Ambrose Bierce (1980) (poetry)