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.
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]
The Oldest Confession
"I am you and you are me and what can we do for the salvation of each other?"
The Manchurian Candidate
yyy
Some Angry Angel
Some angry angel,
Bleared by Bach and too inbred,
Climbed out of bed,
Pulled on a sock,
And, glancing downward,
Threw a rock
Which struck an earthbound peacock's head.
The peacock fell.
The peacock's yell,
Outraged by such treason,
Cried out to know why it,
Out of billions,
Should be hit,
And instantly invented a reason.[3]
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
- ↑ In italics in the book. Some Angry Angel: A Mid-Century Faerie Tale, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1960, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 60-8826