Ambrose Bierce: Alone among friends
Not a lot of people think of Ambrose Bierce when 19th century American writers are the subject, but he was a significant presence in his day, and his caustic wit still resonates.
Bierce, born in 1842, was a veteran of some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. He was seriously wounded in the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in 1864, yet continued to serve, ultimately attaining the rank of major. The war greatly affected Bierce and led to his writing perhaps his most famous short story, "An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge," which was later included in his "In the Midst of Life." HIs stories are suffused with a fiercly ironic sense of horror -- many consider him the bridge between Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft -- and the randomness of war. His portraits of life in camp and on the battlefield offer unique, often startling, perspectives on the war.
After the war, Bierce settled in San Francisco, where he continued to write. He married, then moved to England where he wrote for English and French publications and published several books. He returned to the US to try his hand at mining (he failed).
Bierce separated from his wife, lost his two sons, and broke many friendships over the course of his career. It was said that he made enemies easily.
Following his mining experience, Bierce joined the staff of the San Francisco Examiner, where he wrote a column titled, "Prattler." It was in this column that Bierce created his most enduring legacy: "The Devil's Dictionary," which re-defined common words (particularly those related to religion and romance) in terms that were biting, ironic, cynical, and funny.
In 1913, tired of his American life, Bierce ventured into revolutionary Mexico He was never head from again.
But here we offer a sampling of definitions from the mind of Ambrose Bierce.
Idiot. A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling.
Heaven. A place where the wicked cease from troubling you with their talk of their personal affairs, and the good listen with attention while you expound your own.
Magic. An art of converting superstition into coin.
Man. An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be. His chief occupation is extermination of other animals, and his own species, which, however, multiplies with such insistent rapidity as to infest the whole habitable earth, and Canada.
Woman. An animal usually living in the vicinity of Man, and having a rudimentary susceptibility to domestication.
Wit. The salt with which the American humorist spoils his intellectual cookery by leaving it out.
Intimacy. A relation into which fools are providentially drawn for their mutual destruction.
Sources: The Devil's Dictionary and the Library of America.
