The Devil's Dictionary

Written by Ambrose Bierce

Narrated by Robert G Slade

CYNIC, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.
Written over three decades as a series of instalments for magazines and newspapers, The Devil’s Dictionary is a charmingly eccentric satirical dictionary that tackles all aspects of life with caustic humour and cutting observation. Few are safe as Bierce targets everything from politics (‘A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage’), marriage (‘A household consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves, making in all, two’) and religion (‘A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable’) to lawyers (‘One skilled in circumvention of the law’). This audiobook edition contains over 1,000 entries, combining the complete first edition published in 1911 with definitions attributed to Bierce’s earlier ‘Demon’s Dictionary’ column.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
• Release date: May 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9781781984666

Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) was an American novelist and short story writer. Born in Meigs County, Ohio, Bierce was raised Indiana in a poor family who treasured literature and extolled the value of education. Despite this, he left school at 15 to work as a printer’s apprentice, otherwise known as a “devil”, for the Northern Indianan, an abolitionist newspaper. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, he enlisted in the Union infantry and was present at some of the conflict’s most harrowing events, including the Battle of Shiloh in 1862. During the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in 1864, Bierce—by then a lieutenant—suffered a serious brain injury and was discharged the following year. After a brief re-enlistment, he resigned from the Army and settled in San Francisco, where he worked for years as a newspaper editor and crime reporter. In addition to his career in journalism, Bierce wrote a series of realist stories including “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” and “Chickamauga,” which depict the brutalities of warfare while emphasizing the psychological implications of violence. In 1906, he published The Devil’s Dictionary, a satirical dictionary compiled from numerous installments written over several decades for newspapers and magazines. In 1913, he accompanied Pancho Villa’s army as an observer of the Mexican Revolution and disappeared without a trace at the age of 71.