Ambrose Bierce was recognized as a classic of American literature in the mid-20th century; by that time, the writer had long been dead. He would probably have been surprised to learn that his fame was brought by dark stories and tales infused with a cynical view of life in the style of «gothic prose». About a dozen of them are included in the golden fund of American classics. Ambrose wrote them more for a narrow circle of admirers than for the general public, for whom Bierce was primarily known as a talented journalist who harshly condemned the vices of American society at the end of the 19th century. Ambrose lost the remnants of his youthful romanticism during the Civil War, to which he, a native of a poor large farmer family, went as a volunteer. Bierce went through all the major battles, realized the futility of sacrifices, and settled in San Francisco. His pride did not allow him to return to previous odd jobs - Bierce retired with the rank of officer. His talent as a writer helped him find his independent path in life.
The future writer's father had a good library - thanks to it, Ambrose became acquainted with literary classics. Later, he contributed to it by becoming the author of concise innovative prose that had a tremendous impact on the development of American «dark literature». The American writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft became Bierce's follower on this path, whose works are also full of horrors, mysticism, and fatalism. Bierce's novella «The Monk and the Executioner's Daughter» is saturated with these elements and is the starting point of this collection. It is considered one of the peaks of «gothic literature». At the end of his life, the writer, possessing an unyielding and independent character, in some sense became one of his fatalist heroes. Bierce did not want to face helpless old age. Upon reaching the age of seventy, he crossed the border into revolutionary Mexico. In its fire, he perished without a trace. Probably, it is not by chance that Bierce named one of his stories «Missing».
The book is illustrated with drawings by contemporary St. Petersburg artist Tatiana Kosach. She graduated from the Faculty of History of St. Petersburg State University and is a specialist in Medieval art. Her iconographic and graphic works can be found in private collections of painting enthusiasts in Russia, the USA, Italy, and France. In the «Library of World Literature» series, her illustrations adorn the novels «An American Tragedy», «The Financier», «Titan», «The Stoic» by Theodore Dreiser, «Doctor Zhivago» by Boris Leonidovich Pasternak, and «The White Guard» by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov.
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