The Keener's Manual
The Keener's Manual is an imaginary book created by the 20-century American novelist Richard Condon. From it Condon produced quotations, always in verse, in a large number of his works, and it is, in fact, the source of the titles of several novels, among them five of his first six, The Oldest Confession, Some Angry Angel, A Talent for Loving, An Infinity of Mirrors, and Any God Will Do—only The Manchurian Candidate, his most famous book, derived its title elsewhere.
The Keener's Manual, however, was a fictional invention by Condon and does not actually exist. A "keen" is a "lamentation for the dead uttered in a loud wailing voice or sometimes in a wordless cry" [1] and a "keener" is a professional mourner, usually a woman in Ireland, who "utters the keen... at a wake or funeral." [2]
References
- ↑ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, Merriam-Webster, Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts, 2004, ISBN 0-87779-807-9
- ↑ Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition, Unabridged, G. & C. Merriam Co., Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1943