Poetry
A Vision of Doom (1980)
Non-fiction
The Devil's Dictionary (1906)
Short story collections
Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891)
Short stories
"An Unfinished Race" (1873)
"Killed at Resaca" (1877)
"An Inhabitant of Carcosa" (1887)
"A Horseman in the Sky" (1889)
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (1890)
"The Damned Thing" (1894)
"The Moonlit Road" (1907)
"Moxon's Master" (1909)
Categories:
1911 books
Books by Ambrose Bierce
Satirical books
English dictionaries
Black comedy books
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
The Devil's Dictionary was begun in a weekly paper in 1881, and was continued in a desultory way at long intervals until 1906. In that year a large part of it was published in covers with the title The Cynic's Word Book, a name which the author had not the power to reject or happiness to approve.
To quote the publishers of the present work:
"This more reverent title had previously been forced upon him by the religious scruples of the last newspaper in which a part of the work had appeared, with the natural consequence that when it came out in covers the country already had been flooded by its imitators with a score of 'cynic' books—The Cynic's This, The Cynic's That, and The Cynic's t'Other. Most of these books were merely stupid, though some of them added the distinction of silliness. Among them, they brought the word 'cynic' into disfavor so deep that any book bearing it was discredited in advance of publication."
Meantime, too, some of the enterprising humorists of the country had helped themselves to such parts of the work as served their needs, and many of its definitions, anecdotes, phrases and so forth, had become more or less current in popular speech. This explanation is made, not with any pride of priority in trifles, but in simple denial of possible charges of plagiarism, which is no trifle. In merely resuming his own the author hopes to be held guiltless by those to whom the work is addressed—enlightened souls who prefer dry wines to sweet, sense to sentiment, wit to humor and clean English to slang.
A conspicuous, and it is hoped not unpleasant, feature of the book is its abundant illustrative quotations from eminent poets, chief of whom is that learned and ingenius cleric, Father Gassalasca Jape, S.J., whose lines bear his initials. To Father Jape's kindly encouragement and assistance the author of the prose text is greatly indebted.
- Ambrose Bierce
Links:
Project Gutenrberg
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/972/972-h/972-h.htm
(1994-2005)
American Studies: University of Virginia
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/bierce/bierce.html
Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary was a newspaper weekly first collected as a book in 1906. While the book represents diabolical appetites, and derides pretense, it should be noted that Bierce generally reserved his severest ridicule for those who benefit most from the status quo. It's easy to imagine him a century later relying less on casual political incorrectness, to pay better tribute to those who couldn't overindulge enough on the prosperity that took place. Minor edits have been made here under that consideration.
If you wish to copy and paste large excerpts from the Devil's Dictionary, HTML-only drafts of the book are listed at yahoo.com.
Slideshow-like web adaptations of Swift's A Modest Proposal and Machiavelli's The Prince.
Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary was a newspaper weekly first collected as a book in 1906. While the book represents diabolical appetites, and derides pretense, it should be noted that Bierce generally reserved his severest ridicule for those who benefit most from the status quo.
It's easy to imagine him a century later relying less on casual political incorrectness, to pay better tribute to those who couldn't overindulge enough on the prosperity that took place.
Minor edits have been made here under that consideration.
If you wish to copy and paste large excerpts from the Devil's Dictionary, HTML-only drafts of the book are listed at yahoo.com.
On-line- dictionary-Link: http://www.thedevilsdictionary.com/
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