The literary counterpart I researched in connection to Poe is Ambrose Bierce. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Bierce was born on June 24, 1842 in Ohio. In 1861, he joined the Union Army and served as a solider in various battles throughout the Civil War. Bierce served for about four years, after which he moved to San Francisco where he wrote for magazines and eventually became an editor. Bierce moved multiple times—to England, back to San Francisco, to Washington D.C., and eventually to Mexico in 1913—all the while writing for various publications and even working as a feared critic. Specifically, Bierce is perhaps best known for his satire, most notably The Devil’s Dictionary, as well as his dark and supernatural stories, one of
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According to an article titled, “The Influence of Edgar Allan Poe on Ambrose Bierce” by Arthur M. Miller, Poe’s name was often mentioned in reviews of Bierce’s writings. Since Poe and Bierce had similar genres and writing styles, critics of the time often noted these similarities and essentially insinuated that Bierce was trying to imitate Poe. These constant accusations bothered Bierce, and as mentioned in Miller’s article, Bierce was upset that critics implied that only Poe was allowed to write what is essentially gothic fiction by labeling everyone else as copycats. For example, in a letter to S. O. Howes in 1909, Bierce writes, “If I had left the tragic and supernatural out of my stories I would still have been an ‘imitator of Poe,’ for they would still have been stories” (Miller 135), which shows his frustration of constantly being compared to Poe. However, despite being bothered by the fact that critics often insinuated that Bierce was copying Poe, Bierce did admire him. Found in his essay, “Who Are the Great?” Bierce writes, “I should say that the greatest American that we know about, if not George Sterling, was Edgar Allan Poe” (Miller 135). Obviously, Bierce looked up to Poe, and he certainly had reason to—Poe was a well-established writer of gothic fiction. Because Bierce delved into the genre that Poe essentially spearheaded, it is logical to assume that Bierce turned to Poe’s work for inspiration—not merely to imitate
According to an article titled, “The Influence of Edgar Allan Poe on Ambrose Bierce” by Arthur M. Miller, Poe’s name was often mentioned in reviews of Bierce’s writings. Since Poe and Bierce had similar genres and writing styles, critics of the time often noted these similarities and essentially insinuated that Bierce was trying to imitate Poe. These constant accusations bothered Bierce, and as mentioned in Miller’s article, Bierce was upset that critics implied that only Poe was allowed to write what is essentially gothic fiction by labeling everyone else as copycats. For example, in a letter to S. O. Howes in 1909, Bierce writes, “If I had left the tragic and supernatural out of my stories I would still have been an ‘imitator of Poe,’ for they would still have been stories” (Miller 135), which shows his frustration of constantly being compared to Poe. However, despite being bothered by the fact that critics often insinuated that Bierce was copying Poe, Bierce did admire him. Found in his essay, “Who Are the Great?” Bierce writes, “I should say that the greatest American that we know about, if not George Sterling, was Edgar Allan Poe” (Miller 135). Obviously, Bierce looked up to Poe, and he certainly had reason to—Poe was a well-established writer of gothic fiction. Because Bierce delved into the genre that Poe essentially spearheaded, it is logical to assume that Bierce turned to Poe’s work for inspiration—not merely to imitate