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The Devil's Dictionary and Other Works
The Devil's Dictionary, An Imperfect Conflagration, The Boarded Window, and Death - here are four of the best works by Ambrose Bierce, one of the most brilliant and incisive writers ever. This volume collects one example of each type of composition for which Bierce is most famed: a hilarious satire, a bone-chilling horror story, a sardonic piece of humor, and a macabre poem. Renowned artist Gahan Wilson, whose work finds the comic and the eerir in the most common of situations, brings the perfect, blackly humorous touch to Bierce's eccentrically unique visions.
48 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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About the author
Gahan Wilson
284 books50 followersGahan Wilson was an American author, cartoonist and illustrator known for his cartoons depicting horror-fantasy situations.
Wilson's cartoons and illustrations are drawn in a playfully grotesque style, and have a dark humor that is often compared to the work of The New Yorker cartoonist and Addams Family creator Charles Addams. But while both men sometimes feature vampires, graveyards and other traditional horror elements in their work, Addams's cartoons tended to be more gothic, reserved and old-fashioned, while Wilson's work is more contemporary, gross, and confrontational, featuring atomic mutants, subway monsters, and serial killers. It could be argued that Addams's work was probably meant to be funny without a lot of satirical intent, while Wilson often has a very specific point to make.
His cartoons and prose fiction have appeared regularly in Playboy, Collier's Weekly, The New Yorker and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. For the last he also wrote some movie and book reviews. He has been a movie review columnist for The Twilight Zone Magazine and a book critic for Realms of Fantasy magazine.
His comic strip Nuts, which appeared in National Lampoon, was a reaction against what he saw as the saccharine view of childhood in strips like Peanuts. His hero The Kid sees the world as a dark, dangerous and unfair place, but just occasionally a fun one too.
Wilson also wrote and illustrated a short story for Harlan Ellison's anthology Again, Dangerous Visions. The "title" is a black blob, and the story is about an ominous black blob that appears on the page, growing at an alarming rate, until... He has contributed short stories to other publications as well; "M1" and "The Zombie Butler" both appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and were reprinted in Gahan Wilson's Cracked Cosmos.
Additionally, Gahan Wilson created a computer game titled Gahan Wilson's The Ultimate Haunted House, in conjunction with Byron Preiss. The goal is to collect 13 keys in 13 hours from the 13 rooms of a house, by interacting in various ways with characters (such as a two-headed monster, a mad scientist, and a vampiress), objects, and the house itself.
He received the World Fantasy Convention Award in 1981, and the National Cartoonist Society's Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.
Gahan Wilson is the subject of a feature length documentary film, Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird, directed by Steven-Charles Jaffe.
Wilson's cartoons and illustrations are drawn in a playfully grotesque style, and have a dark humor that is often compared to the work of The New Yorker cartoonist and Addams Family creator Charles Addams. But while both men sometimes feature vampires, graveyards and other traditional horror elements in their work, Addams's cartoons tended to be more gothic, reserved and old-fashioned, while Wilson's work is more contemporary, gross, and confrontational, featuring atomic mutants, subway monsters, and serial killers. It could be argued that Addams's work was probably meant to be funny without a lot of satirical intent, while Wilson often has a very specific point to make.
His cartoons and prose fiction have appeared regularly in Playboy, Collier's Weekly, The New Yorker and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. For the last he also wrote some movie and book reviews. He has been a movie review columnist for The Twilight Zone Magazine and a book critic for Realms of Fantasy magazine.
His comic strip Nuts, which appeared in National Lampoon, was a reaction against what he saw as the saccharine view of childhood in strips like Peanuts. His hero The Kid sees the world as a dark, dangerous and unfair place, but just occasionally a fun one too.
Wilson also wrote and illustrated a short story for Harlan Ellison's anthology Again, Dangerous Visions. The "title" is a black blob, and the story is about an ominous black blob that appears on the page, growing at an alarming rate, until... He has contributed short stories to other publications as well; "M1" and "The Zombie Butler" both appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and were reprinted in Gahan Wilson's Cracked Cosmos.
Additionally, Gahan Wilson created a computer game titled Gahan Wilson's The Ultimate Haunted House, in conjunction with Byron Preiss. The goal is to collect 13 keys in 13 hours from the 13 rooms of a house, by interacting in various ways with characters (such as a two-headed monster, a mad scientist, and a vampiress), objects, and the house itself.
He received the World Fantasy Convention Award in 1981, and the National Cartoonist Society's Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.
Gahan Wilson is the subject of a feature length documentary film, Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird, directed by Steven-Charles Jaffe.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 15, 2020
Very short to deliver its idea.
March 2, 2021
Wilson is supremely well-suited to illustrate these entries
January 13, 2010
Popular adult cartoonist Gahan Wilson tries his hand at adapting one of columnist Ambrose "Bitter" Bierce's most popular works, as well as two lesser-known ones.
For the bulk of the slender Classics Illustrated volume, Wilson tackles The Devil's Dictionary, excerpting and culling in such a manner as to present the most concise caustic "definitions" whilst omitting the longer, more elaborate (and, oft times, obsolete) entries. Bierce provides the text, and Wilson chooses a term or two to illustrate. "Admiration," for instance, presents an image of a venal man leering eye-to-eye with his own mirror image, to acompany Bierce's "One's polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves." The snide images, both literal and supplementary to Bierce's sarcastic commentary, work beautifully.
The adaptation of "The Boarded Window," however, does not work as a stand-alone piece. A familiarity with the original text is necessary in order to properly appreciate the graphical representation thereof. Sadly, the masterful Bierce's satire and visions of horror are abandoned for the briefest recounting of the short story's most elemental plot.
In contrast, the more macabre "An Imperfect Conflagration" presents a short story in its abbreviated format which actually does succeed in retelling the story in a sensible manner to one unfamiliar with the work upon which it is based. Bloody and heartless, the seething vitriol with which Bierce penned the piece bleeds through Wilson's rambunctions, goggle-eyed anti-hero.
Classics Illustrated claims not to replace existing masterpieces with its abridged recreations, but to enhance through supplementation. The idea itself is a fine one... although perhaps a fuller representation of Bierce's Devil's Dictionary - coupled with the omission of the two short stories and single poem - would have done his work better service. The prose with which Bierce achieved his success cannot be removed to such a great degree without bastardizing the original work.
For the bulk of the slender Classics Illustrated volume, Wilson tackles The Devil's Dictionary, excerpting and culling in such a manner as to present the most concise caustic "definitions" whilst omitting the longer, more elaborate (and, oft times, obsolete) entries. Bierce provides the text, and Wilson chooses a term or two to illustrate. "Admiration," for instance, presents an image of a venal man leering eye-to-eye with his own mirror image, to acompany Bierce's "One's polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves." The snide images, both literal and supplementary to Bierce's sarcastic commentary, work beautifully.
The adaptation of "The Boarded Window," however, does not work as a stand-alone piece. A familiarity with the original text is necessary in order to properly appreciate the graphical representation thereof. Sadly, the masterful Bierce's satire and visions of horror are abandoned for the briefest recounting of the short story's most elemental plot.
In contrast, the more macabre "An Imperfect Conflagration" presents a short story in its abbreviated format which actually does succeed in retelling the story in a sensible manner to one unfamiliar with the work upon which it is based. Bloody and heartless, the seething vitriol with which Bierce penned the piece bleeds through Wilson's rambunctions, goggle-eyed anti-hero.
Classics Illustrated claims not to replace existing masterpieces with its abridged recreations, but to enhance through supplementation. The idea itself is a fine one... although perhaps a fuller representation of Bierce's Devil's Dictionary - coupled with the omission of the two short stories and single poem - would have done his work better service. The prose with which Bierce achieved his success cannot be removed to such a great degree without bastardizing the original work.
November 1, 2008
Published in 1911 (first published in book form as The Cynic's Wordbook, 1906) , every time I open this book I laugh. It's a shelf-worn, tanned edition with tiny, bleeding print. The words are wry and cynical enough for our time. If you can imagine, this sarcastic, cynical book seems to soothe my heart since it affirms that times have remained the same through out the last century, if not throughout the history of civilization (so-called).
* Adherant, n. A follower who has not yet obtained all that he expects to get.
Administration, n. An ingenious abstraction in politics, designed to receive the kicks and cuffs due to the premier or president. A man of straw, proof against bad-egging and deadcatting.
* Adherant, n. A follower who has not yet obtained all that he expects to get.
Administration, n. An ingenious abstraction in politics, designed to receive the kicks and cuffs due to the premier or president. A man of straw, proof against bad-egging and deadcatting.
February 15, 2011
The original is hysterical. The illustrations (sparse in the dictionary and comic-style for the shorts) make this an instant favorite. The first short story is sheer horror while the second his hilarious horror-folly. I love this adaption and hope it gets teens interested in other great satirists.
August 15, 2008
Academe': a place where science, math and language are taught.
Academy: a place where football is taught.
Dated ....but it still bites!
Academy: a place where football is taught.
Dated ....but it still bites!
September 14, 2010
Racist and witty, a definate must read
September 27, 2016
Such an interesting piece of art
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews