The Devil's Dictionary
About this audiobook
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.
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About the author
Robert G. Slade has been a professional actor for 35 years, with a career spanning film, television, radio and stage work. His film credits include Casino Royale, Red Lights, Hyde Park on Hudson, Dying of the Light and Exit Thread. He has spent much of his professional life in Canada, performing with every major theatre in Winnipeg, and has appeared across the UK in all media since moving to London in 2005. He has also read A Concise History of the United States of America, My Ántonia and The Virginian for Naxos AudioBooks.
