Author's Preface explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Hypocrisy and Duplicity

  The forced title change due to religious scruples and the subsequent flood of imitator books highlight duplicity in publishing and the manipulation of public perception.

• Language and Meaning

  The author discusses the degradation of the word 'cynic' through misuse and the importance of clean English over slang, reflecting on how language shapes meaning.

Characters to notice

• Father Gassalasca Jape

  Chief among the eminent poets quoted; his lines bear his initials and he provided kindly encouragement and assistance to the author.

Key passages

• “The Devil’s Dictionary was begun in a weekly paper in 1881, and was continued in a desultory way at long intervals until 1906.”

  This dictionary started as a column in a weekly newspaper in 1881 and was published irregularly over many years until 1906.

  Establishes the origin and sporadic publication history of the work.

• “In that year a large part of it was published in covers with the title The Cynic’s Word Book, a name which the author had not the power to reject or happiness to approve.”

  In 1906, most of the work was released as a book called The Cynic's Word Book, a title the author was forced to accept and did not like.

  Highlights the author's lack of control over the title and his displeasure with it.

• “This more reverent title had previously been forced upon him by the religious scruples of the last newspaper in which a part of the work had appeared, with the natural consequence that when it came out in covers the country already had been flooded by its imitators with a score of ‘cynic’ books.”

  The more pious title was imposed due to the religious objections of the final newspaper that published excerpts, leading to a wave of imitator 'cynic' books flooding the market.

  Explains the reason for the title change and its unintended consequence of spawning many copycat works.

• “Meantime, too, some of the enterprising humorists of the country had helped themselves to such parts of the work as served their needs, and many of its definitions, anecdotes, phrases and so forth, had become more or less current in popular speech.”

  Meanwhile, clever humorists had freely used portions of the work for their own purposes, making many of its definitions and stories part of everyday language.

  Describes how the work's content was appropriated and popularized by others.

• “In merely resuming his own the author hopes to be held guiltless by those to whom the work is addressed—enlightened souls who prefer dry wines to sweet, sense to sentiment, wit to humor and clean English to slang.”

  By simply reclaiming his own material, the author trusts that his intended audience—sophisticated readers who value dry wit, sense, and proper English—will not accuse him of plagiarism.

  Defines the target audience and the author's defense against potential plagiarism charges.

• “A conspicuous, and it is hoped not unpleasant, feature of the book is its abundant illustrative quotations from eminent poets, chief of whom is that learned and ingenius cleric, Father Gassalasca Jape, S.J., whose lines bear his initials.”

  A notable and hopefully enjoyable aspect of the book is the many illustrative quotes from famous poets, especially the learned and clever clergyman Father Gassalasca Jape, whose poems are signed with his initials.

  Introduces Father Jape as the primary source of poetic quotations in the work.