Authors

Question 1

Ambrose Bierce

Answer 1

• American author
• 1842 to 1913 (?)
• age 71 disappeared between Mexico and Texas into a desert and never seen again
• satirist, cynical, critical writer
• nickname: Bitter Bierce
• personal motto: “nothing matters”
• best-known work: the Devils dictionary
• themes: abrupt beginning, dark imagery, vague reference to time and war

Question 2

Stephen Crane

Answer 2

• American author and journalist
• 1871 – 1900
• Best known for: The Red Badge of Courage
• popular during lifetime; respected by both literary elites and common readers
• themes: extreme experiences encountered by ordinary people, vivid descriptions of life but offers no answers, crane insist that humans live in a vast universe of indifferent natural forces. No divine moral order(atheist), no karma, no reason bad things happen to good people