Ambrose Bierce, 1842-1914?

Born on June 24, 1842, in Meigs County, Ohio, Ambrose Gwinnette Bierce was one of thirteen children of Marcus Aurelius and Laura Bierce.  At seventeen, Bierce attended the Kentucky Military Institute and two years later he served in the Union army of the Civil War.  It was in the war that Bierce discovered death and destruction.  Bierce transformed these Civil War experiences into powerful short stories such as "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and "Chickamauga."

Bierce enlisted with the Ninth Indiana Infantry and fought in one of the first battles of the Civil War at Philippi, West Virginia.  Only three months later did Bierce begin to battle with the effects of war as he carried one of his dying comrades across a battlefield.  In 1862, the Civil War heightened, and Bierce was involved in several bloody battles at Shiloh, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and Kenesaw Mountain.  As Bierce's participation in the war increased, so did his acts of bravery.  Thus, he rose through the ranks to become a sergeant, then a lieutenant, and finally positioned as a topographical engineer.  After receiving a severe head wound in June of 1864, his brother, Albert, nurtured Bierce back to health.  Despite his second command of a leave of absence, Bierce reenlisted with the Fourth Army Corps.  He was finally discharged in the spring of 1865.  Bierce's literary career began shortly after his dismissal (DLB 74: 22-23).

It is likely that a predominant theme in several of Bierce's short stories is the physical and mental anguish associated with war.  For instance, in "Chickamauga," Bierce describes a disillusioned child mounting a wounded soldier who "lacked a lower jaw" and "from the upper teeth to the throat was a great red gap fringed with hanging shreds of flesh and splinters of bone" (Collected Writings of Ambrose Bierce, 21).  In addition, in Robert Wiggins' biography of Bierce, Wiggins reflects upon the physical horror of war in Bierce's "The Coup de Grace," where wild swine feed upon the bodies of dead and wounded soldiers (202).  Finally, in his essay, "Ambrose Bierce: An Appraisal," Frederic Taber Cooper reflects Bierce's theme of mental anguish by referring to "A Horseman in the Sky," where a Union soldier bound to do his duty, pulls the trigger that kills his father, a Confederate soldier (36). 

Another theme commonly found in Bierce's short stories is the conflict between illusion and reality.  For instance, Bierce's "Chickamauga" is a portrayal of a young, deaf child, who in the midst of a battle, believes it to be a game.  With a wooden sword, he leads the wounded soldiers (his soldiers) toward a red glow of fire.  It is not until he reaches the fire that he discovers the reality of the situation. He discovers his own village being burned and finds his mother slain (Collected Writings of Ambrose Bierce, 21-23).  Robert Wiggins supports this illusion-reality theme by referring to Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge."  He states that the story describes a spy about to be hanged who has visions of an escape and a return to home.  However, reality sets in when "a blinding white light blazes all around him. . . then all is darkness and silence" (200-201).  Finally, in his essay, "Bierce's Turn of the Screw: Tales of Ironical Terror," M. E. Grenander complements the suggested theme by referring to Bierce's "One Officer, One Man."  The story involves a man, disillusioned with the romanticism of war, who believes that he is a courageous soldier.  However, it is not until the shooting starts that the realities of war are known, and the captain realizes his "cowardice" (214). 

Irony is a technique commonly employed throughout Bierce's works.  For instance, in "Chickamauga," the young child is so engulfed with the romanticism of war that he fails to recognize that a battle has taken place.  It is not until he recognizes that the burning village is his own or comes upon his mother's disgusting, dismembered body does he realize what has actually occurred.  Other examples of irony are found in Bierce's "The Coup Degrace," according to Jay Martin's essay, "Ambrose Bierce."  Martin states that in this story the main character "kills a wounded friend out of mercy, is seen doing so by an officer, and is led off to execution" (119).  Finally, Robert Wiggins points out irony in Bierce's "One of the Missing."  In this story, a man becomes trapped under debris, facing the barrel of his own rifle.  Pulling the trigger to the unloaded gun, the man "dies instantly of fright."  Further irony is presented when a lieutenant unrecognizably passes the dead man's body.  The reader learns that the lieutenant was the brother of the dead man (201-202). 
 

Bibliography 

This site, a secondary source of information, is both timely and scholarly.  It includes Web pages devoted to Ambrose Bierce and his works. Specifically, the site includes biographical information, a literary overview, and links to other informative sources. 

This book serves as a primary source of information.  It includes a collection of Bierce’s works such as his short stories from Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, Can Such Things Be?, Fantastic Fables, Negligible Tales, and The Parenticide Club.  It also includes Bierce’s longer pieces such as The Devil’s Dictionary and The Monk and the Hangman’s Daughter. 

This book is a timely and scholarly secondary source of information.  It is one of a series of excellent texts devoted to literary biographies.  Davidson’s piece on Bierce offers biographical information, a list of his major works, and a brief analysis of some of these works. 

Published in 1982, this book is a secondary source of information, and it is part of a series to collect the most important previously published criticism on writers and topics in American literature.  It includes thirty essays and reviews on Ambrose Bierce by distinguished scholars such as Frederic Taber Cooper, Jay Martin, and M.E. Grenander. 

Although not timely, this book is scholarly and provides as a secondary source of information.  It is part of a series of literary biographies.  Wiggins provides an excellent extended biography of Bierce, and he offers some interpretations of his major works. 

Major Works

• The Fiend's Delight (1873)  
• Nuggets and Dust Panned Out in California (1873) 
• Cobwebs From an Empty Skull (1874) 
• The Dance of Death (1877)   
• Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891) 
• Black Beetles in Amber (1892)  
• Can Such Things Be? (1893)   
• The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter (1893) 
• Fantastic Fables (1899)  
• Shapes of Clay (1903) 
• The Cynic's Word Book (1906) 
• The Shadow on the Dial and Other Essays (1909)  
• Write it Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults (1909) 
• The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce (1912) 
• Battlefields and Ghosts (1931)  
• Selection from Prattle by Ambrose Bierce (1936) 
• Enlarged Devil's Dictionary (1967)  
• The Ambrose Bierce Satanic Reader (1968)  
• Ambrose Bierce: Skepticism and Dissent. Selected Journals from 1898-1901 (1980) 

Homes

• Meigs County, Ohio 
• San Francisco, California 
• San Rafael, California 
• London, England 
• Bristol, England 
• Bath, England 
• Leamington, England 
• Washington, D.C. 
• San Antonio, Texas 
• Chihuahua, Mexico 

Careers

• First lieutenant in Civil War 
• Treasury aide 
• Night guard 
• Editor 
• Journalist 

Chronology