The devil's dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary - translations have also appeared under the title From the Devil's Dictionary , the original title is The Devil's Dictionary - is a collection of satirical aphorisms by Ambrose Bierce from 1911 . It usually gathers black humor or sarcastic definitions for around 1000 words.
For example, Bierce defines “ brain ” as: “ An organ with which we think that we think ” (original: Brain, n. An apparatus with which we think that we think ).
history
Ambrose Bierce had been the editor of a satirical column entitled The Town Crier for News Letter , a serious weekly in San Francisco , since 1868 - long before the book was published . There he wrote texts full of black humor and became known as the laughing devil from San Francisco.
When he ran out of topics a year later and bought a Webster dictionary, it first occurred to him to write a satirical dictionary. After his three-year stay in London , Bierce sent in two applications under pseudonyms in 1875 and added 48 satirical word definitions to get his old job back at the News Letter . However, it was rejected.
In his next magazine, The Argonaut , no aphorisms from Biercen's collection appeared; only after he for the satirical weekly magazine The Wasp ( The wasp was) changed, he wrote new definitions for words again, which quickly became popular. From 1881 to 1886, 88 editions with 15–20 definitions each were added.
Due to the popularity he published in 1906, the Cynic's Word Book ( Dictionary of the cynic ) from the publisher Doubleday , comprised of about 500 definitions for words starting with A to L. Another 500 words with the initials M through Z were added in 1911 in the seventh edition of The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce .
In 1967, an expanded version of The Devil's Dictionary by Ernest J. Hopkins was published, which also contained Bierce's word definitions from the weekly newspapers.
Selected examples
- “ Teetotaler : a weak person who succumbs to the temptation to deny himself pleasure. A total abstainer abstains from everything, except abstinence, but especially from
staying out of other people's affairs. ” (“ Abstainer, n. A weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure. A total abstainer is one who abstains from everything but abstention, and especially from inactivity in the affairs of others. ") - " Absurdity : An expression of opinion that obviously contradicts
one's own opinion." ("Absurdity, n. A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.") - “ Admiration : Our polite recognition of the similarity of the other to ourselves.”
(“Admiration, n. Our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves.”) - " Diagnosis : The doctor's prediction of the course of the disease, based on the pulse rate and the wallet of the patient."
("Diagnosis, n. A physician's forecast of the disease by the patient's pulse and purse.") - " Diplomacy : the
patriotic art of lying for the good of one's country." ("Diplomacy, n. The patriotic art of lying for one's country.") - " Emancipation : The change of a slave from the tyranny of another to the despotism of himself."
("Emancipation, n. A bondman's change from the tyranny of another to the despotism of himself.") - " Finance :
The art or science of managing revenues and resources for the best advantage of the manager." ("Finance, n. The art or science of managing revenues and resources for the best advantage of the manager.") - " Novel : An exaggerated short story."
("Novel, n. A short story padded.") - “ Aboriginal people : people of little value standing in the way of the land of a newly discovered land. You are not in the way for long; then they fertilize. "
(" Aborigines, n. Persons of little worth found cumbering the soil of a newly discovered country. They soon cease to cumber; they fertilize. ") - " Truth : inventive mixing of desirability and appearance. Finding the truth is the only goal of philosophy; this is the oldest occupation of the human mind and has a good chance of continuing to the end of time with increasing activity. "
(" Truth, n. An ingenious compound of desirability and appearance. Discovery of truth is the sole purpose of philosophy, which is the most ancient occupation of the human mind and has a fair prospect of existing with increasing activity to the end of time. ") - " Cynic : a blackguard whose faulty perception sees things as they are rather than as they should be."
( "Cynic, n A blackguard Whose faulty vision sees things as They are, not as They ought to be..")
Book editions
- From the devil's dictionary. With an afterword by Hugo Loetscher and illustrations by Willi Rieser. Sanssouci, Zurich 1964 DNB 115 511 474 .
- From the devil's dictionary. Selection, translation and epilogue by Dieter E. Zimmer . Insel (IB 890), Frankfurt am Main 1966; Paperback, ibid. 1980, ISBN 3-458-32140-3
- From The Devil's Dictionary. Translation and epilogue by Richard Fenzl, bilingual. dtv, Munich 1981/1988 , ISBN 3-423-09183-5 .
- The devil's little dictionary. Torn from his claws and translated into German by Hans Petersen. Eulenspiegel, Berlin 1984, ISBN 3-359-00058-7
- The devil's dictionary. Word treasures. Newly translated by Gisbert Haefs . Haffmans, Zurich 1986 (works in four volumes, volume 1), ISBN 3-251-20025-9 ; Manesse, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-7175-2304-8 (and numerous other license conditions).
- The Devil's Dictionary. Illustrated by Ralph Steadman . Bloomsbury, London 2008, ISBN 978-0-7475-9410-9 (current original edition).
