AMBROSE DIERCE: A Biography

by Richard O'Connor ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 11, 1967

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) is one of those eccentrics in the history of American letters who doesn't fit too easily into current fashions or historical tendencies. He spent nearly his entire life on the West Coast, mostly writing feature copy for the Hearst papers; but on the side he produced some extraordinary short fiction and a Devil's Dictionary which can hardly be matched for its cynicism. Richard O'Connor is an effective biographer who researches thoroughly and writes well; the result is a full picture of the man. Literary scholars and students might have wished for a more thorough understanding of Bierce's fictional technique and his total literary output; but such purposes seem beyond O'Connor's scope. Nonetheless, O'Connor never lets one forget that Bierce was a writer and that writing was his dominant passion and his primary adventure; thus, this is very much a book about how literary talent developed itself on the American frontier. Bierce vanished mysteriously into Mexico just before the First World War; and O'Connor resists the temptation to offer any definitive explanation of what happened. May this biography send more adventurous readers back to Bierce's stories and that extraordinary dictionary.

Pub Date: May 11, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION