Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 - circa 1914) was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist. He wrote the short story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and compiled a satirical lexicon, The Devil's Dictionary. His vehemence as a critic, his motto "Nothing matters," and the sardonic view of human nature that informed his work, all earned him the nickname "Bitter Bierce." Despite his reputation as a searing critic, Bierce was known to encourage younger writers, including the poets George Sterling and Herman George Scheffauer and the fiction writer...

The Devils Dictionary By Ambrose Bierce

Bierce edited the twelve volumes of The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, which were published from 1909 to 1912. The seventh volume consists solely of The Devil's Dictionary. Bierce has been criticized by his contemporaries and later scholars for deliberately pursuing improbability and for his penchant toward ""trick endings."" In his later stories, apparently under the influence of Maupassant, Bierce ""dedicated himself to shocking the audience,"" as if his purpose was ""to attack the reader's smug intellectual security."" Bierce's bias towards Naturalism has also been noted: ""The biting,...

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842- circa 1914 was an American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer. Bierce's book The Devil's Dictionary was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration;. His story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge has been described as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature"; and his book Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (also published as In the Midst of Life) was named by the Grolier Club as one of the 100 most influential American books printed...