Ambrose Bierce

If we could only put aside our civil pose and say what we really thought, the world would be a lot like the one alluded to in The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary. There, a bore is "a person who talks when you wish him to listen," and happiness is "an agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another." This is the most comprehensive, authoritative edition ever of Ambrose Bierce’s satiric masterpiece. It renders obsolete all other versions that have appeared in the book’s ninety-year history. A virtual onslaught of acerbic, confrontational wordplay, The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary offers some 1,600 wickedly clever definitions to the vocabulary of everyday life. Little is sacred and few are safe, for Bierce targets just about any pursuit, from matrimony to immortality, that allows our willful failings and excesses to shine forth. This new edition is based on David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi’s exhaustive investigation into the book’s writing and publishing history. All of Bierce’s known satiric definitions are here, including previously uncollected, unpublished, and alternative entries. Definitions dropped from previous editions have been restored while nearly two hundred wrongly attributed to Bierce have been excised. For dedicated Bierce readers, an introduction and notes are also included. Ambrose Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary is a classic that stands alongside the best work of satirists such as Twain, Mencken, and Thurber. This unabridged edition will be celebrated by humor fans and word lovers everywhere.

An incomparable satirist, Ambrose Bierce became the "laughing devil" of the San Francisco news media, for he was about as discreet as a runaway locomotive, according to H. L. Mencken, and nowhere are his uninhibited irony and gift for verse parody more in evidence than in this "dictionary".

A prolific journalist and author well known for his tales of horror and stories about the Civil War, Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) was also a mordant commentator on the political, social, legal, and intellectual failings of his countrymen. Throughout his career, he remained an unapologetic curmudgeon who took a dim view of everything from trade unions and the temperance movement to Americans’ insatiable thirst for money. Even the very principles of democracy did not escape his skeptical pen. This volume brings together a generous sampling of Bierce’s scathing fictional satires, many of which have not been reprinted since their first appearance a century ago. In writing these works, Bierce often employed fanciful devices, such as assuming the perspective of a future historian looking back on the follies of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Among such selections, “Ashes of the Beacon” is perhaps the finest, with its trenchant comments on socialism, anarchy, and the problems of republican government. In another fictional piece, “The Land Beyond the Blow,” Bierce recounts voyages to an imaginary world in the style of Gulliver’s Travels, commenting on bizarre political and social customs that, not coincidentally, mirror America’s own. The volume also includes a rich array of still-relevant nonfiction essays on such topics as capital punishment, the evils of insurance, and the unpleasant disposition of the canines that roam the nation’s capital. These pieces reflect many of the same concerns Bierce addresses in his fictional satires, albeit in a more direct way. The selections are drawn from contributions to newspapers and magazines and from Bierce’s Collected Works, and include many unsigned editorials that Bierce wrote for the San Francisco Examiner. Editors S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz have thoroughly annotated the pieces and have written a substantial introduction outlining the aspects of Bierce’s political thought. The resulting volume is essential reading for anyone who appreciates lively commentary desgined to puncture the hypocrisies and sentimentality of Bierce’s contemporaries, whatever their beliefs. It fills a major gap in Bierce scholarship and allows us to see the world as the notorious cynic did. The Editors: S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz have collaborated extensively on books devoted to Ambrose Bierce, H. P. Lovecraft, and other literary figures. The edited Bierce’s A Sole Survivor: Bits of Autobiography, also published by the University of Tennessee Press, and an annotated edition of Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary.

Questing after Pancho Villa's revolutionary forces, Ambrose Bierce rode into Mexico in 1913 and was never seen again. He left behind him theDevil's Dictionary and a remarkable body of short fiction. This new collection gathers some of Bierce's finest stories, including the celebrated Civil War fictions 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' and 'Chickamauga', his macabre masterpieces, and his tales of supernatural horror. Reminiscent of Poe, these stories are marked by a sardonic humour and a realistic study of tense emotional states. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Born in Ohio in 1842, journalist, short-story writer and critic Ambrose Bierce developed into one of this country's most celebrated and cynical wits -- a merciless "American Swift" whose literary barbs were aimed at folly, self-delusion, politics, business, religion, literature and the arts. In this splendid "dictionary" of epigrams, essays, verses and vignettes, you'll find over 1,000 pointed definitions, e.g. Congratulation ("The civility of envy"), Coward ("One who in a perilous emergency thinks with his legs") and Historian ("A broad-gauge gossip"). Anyone who likes to laugh will love The Devil's Dictionary. Anyone looking for a bon mot to enliven their next speech, paper or conversation will have a field day thumbing through what H. L. Mencken called "some of the most gorgeous witticisms in the English language."

History, n. an account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools. Marriage, n. The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves, making in all two. Self-Esteem, n. An erroneous appraisement. These caustic aphorisms, collected in The Devil's Dictionary, helped earn reporter Ambrose Bierce the epithet's Bitter Bierce, the Devil's Lexicographer, and the Wickedest Man in San Francisco. First published as The Cynic's Word Book (1906) and later reissued under its preferred title in 1911, Bierce's notorious collection of barbed definitions forcibly contradicts Samuel Johnson's earlier definition of a lexicographer as a harmless drudge.

A collection of barbed definitions by one of America's most caustic humorists

History, n. an account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools. Marriage, n. The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves, making in all two. Self-Esteem, n. An erroneous appraisement. These caustic aphorisms, collected in The Devil's Dictionary, helped earn Ambrose Bierce the epithets Bitter Bierce, the Devil's Lexicographer, and the Wickedest Man in San Francisco. First published as The Cynic's Word Book (1906) and later reissued under its preferred name in 1911, Bierce's notorious collection of barbed definitions forcibly contradicts Samuel Johnson's earlier definition of a lexicographer as a harmless drudge. There was nothing harmless about Ambrose Bierce, and the words he shaped into verbal pitchforks a century ago--with or without the devil's help--can still draw blood today.

In The Devil's Dictionary Ambrose Bierce defined "war" as "a by-product of the arts of peace." A Civil War veteran, Bierce had absolutely no illusions about "courage," "honor," and "glory" on the battlefield. These stories form one of the great antiwar statements in American literature. Included here are the classic An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Chickamauga, The Mocking Bird, The Coup de Grâce, Parker Anderson, Philosopher, and other stories celebrated for their intensity, startling insight, and mastery of form.

Before he trailed off into the wilds of Mexico, never to be heard from again, Ambrose Bierce achieved a public persona as "bitter Bierce" and "the devil's lexicographer." He left behind a nasty reputation and more than ninety short stories that are perfect expressions of his sardonic genius. Brought together in this volume, these stories represent an unprecedented accomplishment in American literature. In their iconoclasm and needle-sharp irony, their formal and thematic ingenuity and element of surprise, they differ markedly from the fiction admired in Bierce's time. Readers familiar with the classic An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge will want to turn to Bierce's other Civil War stories. Also included here are his horror stories, among them The Death of Halpin Frayser and The Damned Thing, and such tall tales as Oil of Dog and A Cargo of Cat.

Bierce liefert rund 1000 meist bitterböse Worterklärungen. Die Definitionen sind selten mehr als zwei bis vier Sätze lang und schließen mit einer zielsicheren Pointe. So bezeichnet der kriegserfahrene Autor z. B. die Armee als >>unproduktive Einrichtung, die eine Nation verteidigt, indem sie alles verschlingt, was einen Feind zur Invasion reizen könnte>die patriotische Kunst, gegen Bezahlung für sein Vaterland zu lügen

Ambrose Bierce's classic collection of witty and satirical asides, arranged alphabetically as a dictionary, is presented here in full. Known as a hero for his actions in the American Civil War, Bierce distinguished himself later in life as a barbed commentator who would turn his ire to all sorts of topics. Today, most of his journalism and opinion pieces are consigned to obscurity. Lasting fame however was gained from the Devil's Dictionary; wherein Bierce redefines popular terms in a deeply sardonic, even bitter, manner. Bierce had a painful experience fighting, where he lay wounded for hours upon a hellish battlefield. He watched men slaughter one another like animals, and this horrific experience changed his outlook forever: Bierce viewed mankind and life through a cynical lens, and it was this outlook that lost him many friends. He achieved final notoriety when, in 1913, he disappeared without trace and was never found. The Devil's Dictionary is, as the title suggests, full of dark and devilish humor. For instance, it describes the Adam's Apple as a "protuberance on the throat of a man, thoughtfully provided by Nature to keep the rope in place." and marriage as a "state of temporary insanity only cured by the passage of time." Such brief, cutting asides are perfect for occasional reference, when one is in the mood for dark wit. Underpinned by brevity and a keen sense of the ironic, this book is a satiric masterwork and a perfect introduction to the author. Few of the definitions feel dated or rooted in their time: Bierce composed his satirical dictionary over decades in the late-19th and early 20th century. Later writers such as H. L. Mencken admired and took inspiration from Bierce's many barbs, and he remains admired to this day.