In this issue:
Poe: Philosophy of Composition (1 of 2)
Ghosts and TV channels
the pheromone theory of ghosts? [off-topic]
Re: Ghosts and TV channels
Today in History - May 28
Re: the pheromone theory of ghosts? [off-topic]
RE: the pheromone theory of ghosts? [off-topic]
Ambrose Bierce
Today in History - June 1
Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_
Re: Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_
Re: Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_
Re: Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_
Re: Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_
Re: Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_
Re: Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_
Re: Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_
RE: Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_
Ivory Gate
Today in History - June 2
Ambrose Bierce website
-----------------------------THE POSTS-----------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 May 1999 19:41:42 +0300
From: cbishop(at)interlog.com (Carroll Bishop)
Subject: Poe: Philosophy of Composition (1 of 2)
http://essayists.8m.com/philosophyofcomposition.html
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<HEAD><TITLE>The Lost Art of the Essay: "The Philosophy of Composition" by
Edgar Allan Poe</TITLE>
Charles Dickens, in a note now lying before me, alluding to an
examination I once made of the mechanism of "Barnaby Rudge," says--"By
the way, are you aware that Godwin wrote his 'Caleb Williams'
backwards? He first involved his hero in a web of difficulties,
forming the second volume, and then, for the first, cast about him for
some mode of accounting for what had been done."
I cannot think this the precise mode of procedure on the part of
Godwin--and indeed what he himself acknowledges, is not altogether
in accordance with Mr. Dickens' idea--but the author of "Caleb
Williams" was too good an artist not to perceive the advantage
derivable from at least a somewhat similar process. Nothing is more
clear than that every plot, worth the name, must be elaborated to
its denouement before anything be attempted with the pen. It is only
with the denouement constantly in view that we can give a plot its
indispensable air of consequence, or causation, by making the
incidents, and especially the tone at all points, tend to the
development of the intention.
There is a radical error, I think, in the usual mode of constructing
a story. Either history affords a thesis--or one is suggested by an
incident of the day--or, at best, the author sets himself to work in
the combination of striking events to form merely the basis of his
narrative-designing, generally, to fill in with description, dialogue,
or autorial comment, whatever crevices of fact, or action, may, from
page to page, render themselves apparent.
I prefer commencing with the consideration of an effect. Keeping
originality always in view--for he is false to himself who ventures to
dispense with so obvious and so easily attainable a source of
interest--I say to myself, in the first place, "Of the innumerable
effects, or impressions, of which the heart, the intellect, or (more
generally) the soul is susceptible, what one shall I, on the present
occasion, select?" Having chosen a novel, first, and secondly a
vivid effect, I consider whether it can be best wrought by incident or
tone--whether by ordinary incidents and peculiar tone, or the
converse, or by peculiarity both of incident and tone--afterward
looking about me (or rather within) for such combinations of event, or
tone, as shall best aid me in the construction of the effect.
I have often thought how interesting a magazine paper might be
written by any author who would--that is to say, who could--detail,
step by step, the processes by which any one of his compositions
attained its ultimate point of completion. Why such a paper has
never been given to the world, I am much at a loss to say--but,
perhaps, the autorial vanity has had more to do with the omission than
any one other cause. Most writers--poets in especial--prefer having it
understood that they compose by a species of fine frenzy--an
ecstatic intuition--and would positively shudder at letting the public
take a peep behind the scenes, at the elaborate and vacillating
crudities of thought--at the true purposes seized only at the last
moment--at the innumerable glimpses of idea that arrived not at the
maturity of full view--at the fully-matured fancies discarded in
despair as unmanageable--at the cautious selections and rejections--at
the painful erasures and interpolations--in a word, at the wheels
and pinions--the tackle for scene-shifting--the step-ladders, and
demon-traps--the cock's feathers, the red paint and the black patches,
which, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, constitute the
properties of the literary histrio.
I am aware, on the other hand, that the case is by no means
common, in which an author is at all in condition to retrace the steps
by which his conclusions have been attained. In general,
suggestions, having arisen pell-mell are pursued and forgotten in a
similar manner.
For my own part, I have neither sympathy with the repugnance alluded
to, nor, at any time, the least difficulty in recalling to mind the
progressive steps of any of my compositions, and, since the interest
of an analysis or reconstruction, such as I have considered a
desideratum, is quite independent of any real or fancied interest in
the thing analysed, it will not be regarded as a breach of decorum
on my part to show the modus operandi by which some one of my own
works was put together. I select 'The Raven' as most generally
known. It is my design to render it manifest that no one point in
its composition is referable either to accident or intuition--that the
work proceeded step by step, to its completion, with the precision and
rigid consequence of a mathematical problem.
Let us dismiss, as irrelevant to the poem, per se, the circumstance-
or say the necessity--which, in the first place, gave rise to the
intention of composing a poem that should suit at once the popular and
the critical taste.
We commence, then, with this intention.
The initial consideration was that of extent. If any literary work
is too long to be read at one sitting, we must be content to
dispense with the immensely important effect derivable from unity of
impression--for, if two sittings be required, the affairs of the world
interfere, and everything like totality is at once destroyed. But
since, ceteris paribus, no poet can afford to dispense with anything
that may advance his design, it but remains to be seen whether there
is, in extent, any advantage to counterbalance the loss of unity which
attends it. Here I say no, at once. What we term a long poem is, in
fact, merely a succession of brief ones--that is to say, of brief
poetical effects. It is needless to demonstrate that a poem is such
only inasmuch as it intensely excites, by elevating the soul; and
all intense excitements are, through a psychal necessity, brief. For
this reason, at least, one-half of the "Paradise Lost" is
essentially prose--a succession of poetical excitements
interspersed, inevitably, with corresponding depressions--the whole
being deprived, through the extremeness of its length, of the vastly
important artistic element, totality, or unity of effect.
It appears evident, then, that there is a distinct limit, as regards
length, to all works of literary art--the limit of a single sitting-
and that, although in certain classes of prose composition, such as
"Robinson Crusoe" (demanding no unity), this limit may be
advantageously overpassed, it can never properly be overpassed in a
poem. Within this limit, the extent of a poem may be made to bear
mathematical relation to its merit--in other words, to the
excitement or elevation-again, in other words, to the degree of the
true poetical effect which it is capable of inducing; for it is
clear that the brevity must be in direct ratio of the intensity of the
intended effect--this, with one proviso--that a certain degree of
duration is absolutely requisite for the production of any effect at
all.
Holding in view these considerations, as well as that degree of
excitement which I deemed not above the popular, while not below the
critical taste, I reached at once what I conceived the proper length
for my intended poem--a length of about one hundred lines. It is, in
fact, a hundred and eight.
My next thought concerned the choice of an impression, or effect, to
be conveyed: and here I may as well observe that throughout the
construction, I kept steadily in view the design of rendering the work
universally appreciable. I should be carried too far out of my
immediate topic were I to demonstrate a point upon which I have
repeatedly insisted, and which, with the poetical, stands not in the
slightest need of demonstration--the point, I mean, that Beauty is the
sole legitimate province of the poem. A few words, however, in
elucidation of my real meaning, which some of my friends have
evinced a disposition to misrepresent. That pleasure which is at
once the most intense, the most elevating, and the most pure is, I
believe, found in the contemplation of the beautiful. When, indeed,
men speak of Beauty, they mean, precisely, not a quality, as is
supposed, but an effect--they refer, in short, just to that intense
and pure elevation of soul--not of intellect, or of heart--upon
which I have commented, and which is experienced in consequence of
contemplating the "beautiful." Now I designate Beauty as the
province of the poem, merely because it is an obvious rule of Art that
effects should be made to spring from direct causes--that objects
should be attained through means best adapted for their attainment--no
one as yet having been weak enough to deny that the peculiar elevation
alluded to is most readily attained in the poem. Now the object Truth,
or the satisfaction of the intellect, and the object Passion, or the
excitement of the heart, are, although attainable to a certain
extent in poetry, far more readily attainable in prose. Truth, in
fact, demands a precision, and Passion, a homeliness (the truly
passionate will comprehend me), which are absolutely antagonistic to
that Beauty which, I maintain, is the excitement or pleasurable
elevation of the soul. It by no means follows, from anything here
said, that passion, or even truth, may not be introduced, and even
profitably introduced, into a poem for they may serve in
elucidation, or aid the general effect, as do discords in music, by
contrast--but the true artist will always contrive, first, to tone
them into proper subservience to the predominant aim, and, secondly,
to enveil them, as far as possible, in that Beauty which is the
atmosphere and the essence of the poem.
Regarding, then, Beauty as my province, my next question referred to
the tone of its highest manifestation--and all experience has shown
that this tone is one of sadness. Beauty of whatever kind in its
supreme development invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.
Melancholy is thus the most legitimate of all the poetical tones.
The length, the province, and the tone, being thus determined, I
betook myself to ordinary induction, with the view of obtaining some
artistic piquancy which might serve me as a key-note in the
construction of the poem--some pivot upon which the whole structure
might turn. In carefully thinking over all the usual artistic effects-
or more properly points, in the theatrical sense--I did not fail to
perceive immediately that no one had been so universally employed as
that of the refrain. The universality of its employment sufficed to
assure me of its intrinsic value, and spared me the necessity of
submitting it to analysis. I considered it, however, with regard to
its susceptibility of improvement, and soon saw it to be in a
primitive condition. As commonly used, the refrain, or burden, not
only is limited to lyric verse, but depends for its impression upon
the force of monotone--both in sound and thought. The pleasure is
deduced solely from the sense of identity--of repetition. I resolved
to diversify, and so heighten the effect, by adhering in general to
the monotone of sound, while I continually varied that of thought:
that is to say, I determined to produce continuously novel effects, by
the variation of the application of the refrain--the refrain itself
remaining for the most part, unvaried.
These points being settled, I next bethought me of the nature of
my refrain. Since its application was to be repeatedly varied it was
clear that the refrain itself must be brief, for there would have been
an insurmountable difficulty in frequent variations of application
in any sentence of length. In proportion to the brevity of the
sentence would, of course, be the facility of the variation. This
led me at once to a single word as the best refrain.
The question now arose as to the character of the word. Having
made up my mind to a refrain, the division of the poem into stanzas
was of course a corollary, the refrain forming the close to each
stanza. That such a close, to have force, must be sonorous and
susceptible of protracted emphasis, admitted no doubt, and these
considerations inevitably led me to the long o as the most sonorous
vowel in connection with r as the most producible consonant.
The sound of the refrain being thus determined, it became
necessary to select a word embodying this sound, and at the same
time in the fullest possible keeping with that melancholy which I
had pre-determined as the tone of the poem. In such a search it
would have been absolutely impossible to overlook the word
"Nevermore." In fact it was the very first which presented itself.
The next desideratum was a pretext for the continuous use of the one
word "nevermore." In observing the difficulty which I had at once
===0===
Date: Thu, 27 May 1999 21:54:46 -0700 From: Jack Kolb <kolb(at)UCLA.EDU> Subject: Ghosts and TV channels Bob Champ has privately written me a gently corrective letter, pointing out that, in my enthusiastic skepticism, I may have tarred The Discovery Channel. He's right, although my contempt was really directed against the poorly named "Learning Channel." I watch the former (Discovery Channel) regularly, and have learned much from their excellent programs. All I wanted to suggest is that they--like many other programs (not, I'm glad to say, PBS's NOVA)--overindulge speculation and unprovable hypotheses, without taking sufficient care to distinguish between what might be supposed, and what has been reasonably proved. How about a nice ghost story? Jack Kolb Dept. of English, UCLA kolb(at)ucla.edu
===0===
Date: Thu, 27 May 1999 23:31:02 -0700 From: Alan Gullette <alang(at)creative.net> Subject: the pheromone theory of ghosts? [off-topic] Bob C. wrote: I have never heard of the pheromone theory of ghosts. Could you enlighten us just a tad further, Alan? Gee, I wish I could! The theory is a half-baked one of mine (I have many!). As Priya indicated, it's part of a rationalist attempt to explain things in scientific/materialist terms. A pheromone released in mortal fear or murderous hatred or at the moment of dying would be a familiar physical thing -- more satisfying to the rational mind, perhaps, than the alternative of admitting ghosts into one's ontology! Personally, I'm not quite a materialist but a kind of spiritual materialist, or what I like to call immanent existentialism or existential essentialism or ... (?!) I do not separate mind from body, thus avoiding dualism; monism is the most satisfying position to me, whereas materialism reduces things to a mechanistic model -- unless "enlightened" by modern physics. Spirit and matter I see as two sides of the same coin, without invoking dualism. But the conditions are such that without the body, poof! (Here, too, I am open minded, since it might be possible to "grow" a ghost or develop your own psycho-spiritual capacity to survive death -- which I take to be, in part, an idea of Gurdjieff.) Sorry this is so off-topic!
===0===
Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 07:24:00 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)gloaming.com> Subject: Re: Ghosts and TV channels >How about a nice ghost story? There is a nice ghost story this week...it's Mary Raymond Shipman Andrew's "Through the Ivory Gate". So far I had some very nice input from Jesse Knight but no other comments. You want nice--this is nice and if for no other reason than to enjoy the gentleness of this story I do suggest a reading. (IVRYGATE.HTM) (Fiction, Chronos) Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews' "Through the Iron Gate" (1905) Gassers have been asking for regular stories and regular discussion...here we have four solid weeks of them. Next week is the very poignant "An Occurance At Owl Creek Bridge" by Bierce. (OWLCREEK.HTM) (Fiction, Chronos) Ambrose Bierce's "An occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (1891) Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
===0===
Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 15:52:53 -0600
From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org>
Subject: Today in History - May 28
1805
Napoleon is crowned in Milan, Italy.
1830
Congress authorizes removal of Native Americans from all
states to the western territories.
1863
The 54th Massachusetts, a regiment of African-American
recruits, leave Boston
for Hilton Head, South Carolina.
1871
The Paris commune is suppressed by troops from Versailles.
1900
Britain annexes the Orange Free State in South Africa.
1918
The Tatars declare the independence of Azerbaijan.
Born on May 28
1759
William Pitt the Younger, prime minister of England
1783-1801.
1738
Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotine, French inventor of the
guillotine during the French
Revolution.
1818
Pierre Gustave Toutaint Beauregard, Confederate general who
first fired on Fort Sumter and fought at
First Bull Run (Manassas) and Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing).
1888
Jim Thorpe, American athlete who competed in the Olympics
and played on professional
football and baseball teams
1908
Ian Fleming, creator of Bond, James Bond.
===0===
Date: Sat, 29 May 1999 08:03:50 -0500
From: Brian McMillan <brianbks(at)netins.net>
Subject: Re: the pheromone theory of ghosts? [off-topic]
Interesting, except that this doesn't seem to take into account
sightings of
ancient ghosts. While it could be that the pheromones somehow became "fixed"
into the material background (although, I don't know how), it would be
difficult to explain the Roman soldiers spotted in modern times in the
waters of Solway Firth in Scotland (where it was dry ground in Roman days)
as well as other "water ghosts".
Brian McM.
- -----Original Message-----
From: Alan Gullette <alang(at)creative.net>
To: Gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA <Gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA>
Date: Friday, May 28, 1999 1:44 AM
Subject: the pheromone theory of ghosts? [off-topic]
>Bob C. wrote:
>
> I have never heard of the pheromone theory of ghosts. Could you enlighten
>us just a tad further, Alan?
>
>Gee, I wish I could! The theory is a half-baked one of mine (I have
many!).
>As Priya indicated, it's part of a rationalist attempt to explain things in
>scientific/materialist terms. A pheromone released in mortal fear or
>murderous
>hatred or at the moment of dying would be a familiar physical thing -- more
>satisfying to the rational mind, perhaps, than the alternative of admitting
>ghosts
>into one's ontology!
>
>Personally, I'm not quite a materialist but a kind of spiritual
>materialist, or what
>I like to call immanent existentialism or existential essentialism or ...
>(?!) I do
>not separate mind from body, thus avoiding dualism; monism is the most
>satisfying position to me, whereas materialism reduces things to a
>mechanistic
>model -- unless "enlightened" by modern physics. Spirit and matter I see
as
>two sides of the same coin, without invoking dualism. But the conditions
are
>such that without the body, poof! (Here, too, I am open minded, since it
>might
>be possible to "grow" a ghost or develop your own psycho-spiritual capacity
>to survive death -- which I take to be, in part, an idea of Gurdjieff.)
>
>Sorry this is so off-topic!
===0===
Date: Sat, 29 May 1999 08:45:20 -0500 From: Mattingly Conner <muse(at)iland.net> Subject: RE: the pheromone theory of ghosts? [off-topic] So Alan... Maybe Hamlet had a chemical imbalance? I mean, he was going through a difficult time and all... And then there was all that questioning of reality, and he simply could not connect. Too quick on the uptake was he? Hmmm? Deborah Mattingly Conner muse(at)iland.net http://www.iland.net/~muse Then, burning, I awake Sore tempted to partake Of dreams that seek thy sight: Until, being greatly stirr'd, I turn to where I heard That whisper of the night; And there a breath of light Shines like a silver star. The same is mine own soul, Which lures me to the goal Of dreams that gaze afar. ~Urbiciani's Canzonetta, trans Dante Gabriel Rossetti
===0===
Date: Tue, 01 Jun 1999 15:01:56 -0600 From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA Subject: Ambrose Bierce - ---------------------- Forwarded by Stephen Davies/Academic/MRC on 06/01/99 03:03 PM --------------------------- From Deborah McM.: As hackers have wrecked my server temporarily since Friday and hopefully only until Wednesday, Stephen is forwarding this to the list. First, here is an Appreciation of Bierce website: http://styx.ios.com/~damone/gbierce.html There are photos and life histories laid out so I find it a bit redundent to repeat since this is a pretty thorough website. Because Bierce's life (and 'death/disappearance') are so interesting in themselves I highly recommend reading this. (also recommended is the bizarre film FROM DUSK TILL DAWN which fictionalizes Bierce's death in a very interesting way!). *** For those of you that remember "Owl Creek Bridge" on tv, here, from the Appreciation list, is the pertinent information for that show: >An adaption of An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge was featured in an >episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Episode 166, Original Airdate: Dec. >20, 1959, External Episode List). The series is available for sale through >MCA home video. > >Robert Enrico's critically acclaimed, 1962 b&w short film adaption of An >Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge was modified for television and shown as an >episode of the original Twilight Zone (Episode 142, Original Airdate: >February 28, 1964, External Fan Page). The episode is available for sale >on CBS Video's Treasures of the Twilight Zone and Columbia House's The >Twilight Zone, Vol. 32. It has been excluded from certain distribution >deals, so if your local channel runs the program, this episode may not be >included. > I am most familiar with the Twilight Zone version and do not believe I have seen it since it originally aired. I was able to locate TREASURES OF THE TWILIGHT ZONE on VHS and DVD from Amazon but couldn't find the Columbia house #32 version. Enjoy this classic story. Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
===0===
Date: Tue, 01 Jun 1999 16:07:36 -0600
From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org>
Subject: Today in History - June 1
1812
American Navy Captain James Lawrence, mortally wounded in a
naval engagement with
the British, tells the crew of his ship, the Chesapeake,
"Don't give up the ship!" The
slogan is soon seen on Navy flags.
1861
The first skirmish of the Civil War takes place at Fairfax
Court House, Virginia.
1862
General Robert E. Lee assumes command of the Confederate Army
outside Richmond
after General Joseph E. Johnston is injured at the Battle of
Seven Pines/Fair Oaks.
[According to Johnston, the shot that took him out was the
luckiest shot fo the war,
for the Confedracy.]
1864
The Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia, begins as Union General
Ulysses S. Grant tries to
turn Confederate General Robert E. Lee's flank.
1868
James Buchanan, 15th president of the United States, dies.
1877
U.S. troops are authorized to pursue bandits into Mexico.
1915
Germany conducts the first zeppelin air raid against targets
in England.
1916
The National Defense Act enlarges the U.S. National Guard by
450,000
men.
Born on June 1
1801
Brigham Young, succesor to founder Joseph Smith as leader of
the Mormon Church.
1814
Philip Kearney, Union Civil War general, killed at the Battle
of Chantilly, Virginia.
1831
John B. Hood, Confederate Civil War general.
===0===
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 06:54:52 -0600
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_
I'd like to know what is everyone's favourite definition from Ambrose Bierce's
_Devil's dictionary_. A copy can be found online at
http://wabakimi.carleton.ca/~dcormier/dictintro.html with an appropriately
crusty introduction.
What are all the attributions thruout the dictionary? These must be made up
quotes. I never heard of Polydore as a given name before.
Stephen D
mailto:sdavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
===0===
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 10:20:58 +0300 From: cbishop(at)interlog.com (Carroll Bishop) Subject: Re: Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_ >I'd like to know what is everyone's favourite definition from Ambrose Bierce's >_Devil's dictionary_. A copy can be found online at >http://wabakimi.carleton.ca/~dcormier/dictintro.html with an appropriately >crusty introduction. > >What are all the attributions thruout the dictionary? These must be made up >quotes. I never heard of Polydore as a given name before. > > Stephen D > mailto:sdavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca There are two Polydoruses in Graves' Greek myths -- both sons of Priam but by different moms. There's also a record company called Polydor. I haven't found Ambrose's Polydore but I have a vague association with French classical drama or baroque opera. Carroll
===0===
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 10:37:49 +0300 From: cbishop(at)interlog.com (Carroll Bishop) Subject: Re: Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_ Another Polydore sighted: VERGIL, POLYDORE (cx under POLYDORE VERGIL) (1470?-1555?), a native of Urbino, who came to England in 1502 as subcollector of Peter's pence, and held various ecclesiastical preferments, being archbishop of Wells from 1508 to 1554. ....He was also author of a 'Proverbiorum Libellus' (Venice, 1498), anticipating the 'Adagia' of Erasmus. Carroll
===0===
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 08:55:51 -0600 (MDT) From: "p.h.wood" <woodph(at)freenet.edmonton.ab.ca> Subject: Re: Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_ Stephen Davies observed of this most acidulous work: <<What are all the attributions throughout the dictionary? These must be made up quotes. I never heard of Polydore as a given name before.>> Henry VIII had a tame historian named Polydore Virgil; it was one of those Renaissance first names with a classical twist. I suspect there was a Classical historian with that name, but don't have an encyclopedia to hand. There certainly was a Greek sculptor named Polydorus, who was one of the three men who carved the famous 'Laocoon'. Peter Wood
===0===
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 10:56:26 -0400 From: "J.M. Jamieson" <jjamieson(at)odyssey.on.ca> Subject: Re: Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_ At 06:54 AM 02/06/1999 -0600, Stephen D wrote: >I'd like to know what is everyone's favourite definition from Ambrose Bierce's >_Devil's dictionary_. I always liked his definition of a cynic as " A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking out a cynic's eyes to improve his vision". And I do have a question regarding the Dictionary. The Dictionary is based on newspaper articles and I assume it is not complete. The edition I have is Clifton Fadiman's _The Collected Writings of Ambrose Bierce_ Citadel Press 1946. I know there was a Dover edition of just the Dictionary which I may have read at one time back in Manhattan where I did most of my Bierce reading. For years now (since Saturday June 22, 1968 to be precise) I have been looking for a definition of a Christian that I had thought was by Bierce. It went something like this: A Christian is a member of a tribe which specializes in murder and theft under the terms war and commerce. As I say I had always thought this was Beirce and it was part of my motive in purchasing the edition mentioned above. I do by the way rather like his published definition as well. If anyone knows the source of this quotation other than my imagination I figure they are on this list. It certainly is rather sad that Bierce died so early into this century since the 20th Century was to become everything Bierce imagined. I like to think he would have enjoyed watching it unfold. Mac > >What are all the attributions thruout the dictionary? These must be made up >quotes. I never heard of Polydore as a given name before. > > Stephen D > mailto:sdavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca > > > > Copyright ? 1999 J.M. Jamieson ICQ #17834084 RSA & DH/DSS keys at http://pgp.rivertown.net/keyserver/
===0===
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 08:18:00 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)gloaming.com> Subject: Re: Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_ My ISP is back! >>I'd like to know what is everyone's favourite definition from Ambrose >Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_. I'm afraid the first time I saw it, it was: Yankees--see Damnyanks >If anyone knows the source of this quotation >other than my imagination I figure they are on this list. The Bierce Appreciation webpage mentions an unabridged Devil's Dictionary that is in the works for publication. Maybe it is a more complete version culled, as you say, from his newspaper articles? I also saw one on Amazon that was added on to by someone else, but--that's not Bierce. Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
===0===
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 10:41:40 -0400
From: Richard King <rking(at)INDIAN.VINU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_
Stephen and all:
This is my absolute favorite Devil's Dictionary quote, though it is
difficult to decide which actually is my favorite.
FIDDLE
n. An instrument to tickle human ears by friction of a horse's tail
on the entrails of a cat.
I'm trying to learn to play the fiddle, so it is appropriate (my own
three cats seem to go outside when I apply the tail to the entrails).
Richard King
rking(at)indian.vinu.edu
sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA wrote:
>
> I'd like to know what is everyone's favourite definition from Ambrose
> Bierce's
> _Devil's dictionary_. A copy can be found online at
> http://wabakimi.carleton.ca/~dcormier/dictintro.html with an appropriately
> crusty introduction.
>
> What are all the attributions thruout the dictionary? These must be made
> up
> quotes. I never heard of Polydore as a given name before.
>
> Stephen D
> mailto:sdavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
===0===
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 08:49:20 -0700
From: Patricia Teter <PTeter(at)getty.edu>
Subject: Re: Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_
Stephen wrote: <<I'd like to know what is everyone's
favourite definition from Ambrose Bierce's _Devil's
dictionary_. >>>
There are so many wonderful definitions that it is
difficult to pick just one, however, one of my many
favorite definitions is
SAUCE
n. The one infallible sign of civilization and enlightenment.
A people with no sauces has one thousand vices; a people with
one sauce has only nine hundred and ninety-nine. For every sauce
invented and accepted a vice is renounced and forgiven.
<<What are all the attributions thruout the dictionary? These
must be made up quotes. I never heard of Polydore as a given
name before.>>
The attributions are indeed a strange bunch. A quick poll
of a very small segment of 2 letters in the alphabet unearthed
the following names:
Polydore Smith
J. Milton Sloluck
Barney Stims
Porfer Poog
Dumbo Omohundro
Venable Strigg
Opoline Jones
Jared Oopf
Jamrach Holobom
best regards,
Patricia (Deborah McN., your Southern stories sound wonderful,
and I hope to have a chance to catch up with my Gaslight
reading very soon.)
===0===
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 11:09:21 -0500 From: Mattingly Conner <muse(at)iland.net> Subject: RE: Bierce's _Devil's dictionary_ Another Polydore sighted: DG & Christina Rossetti's mother was a Polidore... Their uncle John Polidore wrote "The Vampyre" on that most Gothic dark and stormy night that Frankenstein was written. Best not dare a Romantic! (Happy you asked?) Summa felicitas, Deborah Mattingly Conner muse(at)iland.net http://www.iland.net/~muse " . . . .And what was intellect? It was a function of the human soul, not a mirror but an infinitesimal fragment of a mirror such that a child might hold up to the sun, expecting it to be dazzled by it." ~CGJung Memories,Dreams,Reflections
===0===
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 11:28:10 -0400 From: Richard King <rking(at)INDIAN.VINU.EDU> Subject: Ivory Gate Well, the list has been quiet, lately. I expect that after turning in the grades and finishing reading the last of the term papers the academics have crawled into their isolated little priest holes far from computers to have quiet, well-deserved little nervous breakdowns. I know I feel about that way right now. Last week was when we were to read "Through the Ivory Gate," a 1905 story by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews. I read it last night, a week late (but better than never, my old journalism prof would tell me after seeing me in the library reading last week's assignment!). It is in part a Christmas story, and would be an appropriate Christmas Annual addition to our Gaslight Christmas Ghost Canon. It is a southern story (the American South--if Kentucky can be called the South--it was a Swing State during the war, wasn't it?) but could well be just like a British Manor House ghost story. It reads as if it could have originally been published in a woman's magazine of the time (do you know, Deborah?). I expect some will find it overly sentimental, I personally found it sad and wistful with a strong sense of the importance of the past as it recalls a young man's memory of his dead mother. In fact, "Through the Ivory Gate" has this very sad line as the young man visits the house his mother grew up in as a girl: "There was the huge mahogany sofa, horsehair-covered, in the window under the stairs, where his mother had read IVANHOE and THE TALISMAN. Philip stepped softly across the wide hall and laid his head where must have rested the brown hair of the little girl who had come to be, first all of his life, and then its dearest memory." That line just got to me, really, that awareness of the connection to the past we all somehow have but rarely realize. I like the buried treasure in the garden angle. There must be countless legends of southern mansions with lost buried treasures in the garden (to protect the valuables from the Yankees) that were never retrieved by the inhabitants. Does anyone know of any? Does anyone know of any actual, true treasure being found or is this just a myth? On the down side, the story reflects the idea that slaves were well-treated and happy to be raggedy bottom-feeders of society, and that the slave-owners treated them well (at least the people in this story thought of themselves like this, like paternalistic landlords in Scotland just before the Clearances began), and that this feeling continued after the war. Still, I didn't let this bother me much as I view the story as a look *at* this viewpoint based on its 1905 publication date. Certainly it is a ghost story, a tale, and it not intended to be a realistic portrayal. I also enjoyed the strong sense of the importance of the past to the present. An example of this is when Philip contemplates the old beech tree in the garden: "It was a giant beech tree, all of two hundred and fifty years old, and around its base ran a broken wooden bench, where pretty girls of Fairfield had listened to their sweethearts, where gray-haired judges and generals had come back to think over the fights that were fought out. There were letters carved into the strong bark, the branches swung down whisperingly, the green tent of the forest seemed filled with the memory of those who had camped there and gone on." Well, enough of this pleasant little ghostly interlude: On to Ambrose Bierce! Best wishes, Richard King rking(at)indian.vinu.edu
===0===
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 11:36:04 -0600
From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org>
Subject: Today in History - June 2
1818
The British army defeats the Maratha alliance at Bombay,
India.
1865
Confederate General Kirby-Smith surrenders the
Trans-Mississippi
Department to Northern Forces at Galveston, Texas.
1883
The first baseball game under electric lights is played at
Fort Wayne, Indiana.
1886
Grover Cleveland becomes the first president to marry while
in office.
1910
Charles Stewart Roll becomes the first pilot to fly an
airplane across the English Channel.
Birthdays:
1840
Thomas Hardy, English poet and novelist who wrote Tess of the
D'Ubervilles and Return of the Native.
1904
Johnny Weissmuller, American Olympic gold medalist swimmer
who played Tarzan in
the movies.
===0===
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 11:36:40 -0600
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Ambrose Bierce website
Tho Bierce is eminently quotable and is well represented on the WWW, I cannot
access the webpage to which Deborah McM. referred us:
>First, here is an Appreciation of Bierce website:
>
> http://styx.ios.com/~damone/gbierce.html
Has anyone else been able to connect? or is there another overview of Bierce
available?
I paused during composition to answer my own question. Here are some sites
which show effort and which encourage appreciation of Bierce:
Allan Gullette's Literary Pages: --
http://www.creative.net/~alang/lit/horror/abierce.sht
our own Allan, with the best webliography of Bierce.
Ambrose Bierce: patron saint of satire --
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8109/main.htm
The Ambrose Bierce Appreciation Society -- http://idt.net/~damone/gbierce.html
Don Swaim's Ambrose Bierce Site -- http://pwp.usa.pipeline.com/~donswa/
the excellent Poet's corner website has devoted a page --
http://www.geocities.com/~spanoudi/poems/bierce01.html
As for the variations of the definitions (and why Mac can't find the defn. of
Christian that he remembers from the heady '60's), Bierce admits that he had
limited control over the issuing of the first dictionary, actually called _The
cynic's word book_ (1906). He edited the next edition himself, properly called
_The Devil's dictionary_ (1911). Beyond pastiche (?) definitions, there may
very well be more definitions or variants to be culled from Bierce's newspaper
work.
Furtherto our discussion of names, the URL I gave for the _Devil's dictionary_
does not carry Bierce's preface. In it he ascribes the initials G.J. to one of
his helpful contributors, Father Gassalasca Jape, S.J.
Stephen D
mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/as/Literature/Bierce/devilsdic4.html#CHRISTIAN
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End of Gaslight Digest V1 #73
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