Ambrose Bierce Disappearance: Unknown Page of Writer’s Biography

Abstract

The article is devoted to the interpretation of the episode from the life of the outstanding American prose writer A. Bierce, linked with his sudden disappearance which still causes controversy among historians of literature and biographers of the writer. It is noted that the official version reads as follows: Ambrose Bierce is missing and was likely killed in the assault by Villa’s soldiers of city of Ojinaga, he was by the court declared dead in 1918. It is indicated that, nevertheless, the number of versions continued to increase, from time to time there were new rumors, but, as a rule, they were not supported by the factual material. It is emphasized that despite the once stunning popularity among contemporaries, the life and work of this outstanding prose writer still remain unexplored completely. It is argued that the study of the literary heritage of the writer is fully impossible without reference to the facts of his biography. The authors analyze the existing versions of Bierce’s “disappearance” using the materials of his epistolary heritage, and partly clarify this episode in the biography of the writer, relying on the comparative-historical, axiological, biographical (however free from the extremes of impressionism and psychology) methods.

Keywords

• a. bierce
• usa literature
• biography
• biographical method
• epistolary heritage