ABSTRACT
Published in 1836, The Mourner’s Book typifies one category of popular nineteenth-century advice writing: memorial conduct literature. An anthology of sermons, moral essays, and poems, The Mourner’s Book was designed to address every possible aspect of the mourning experience, an encyclopedic intent signaled by its over 150 entries, many no more than a page long. The contents not only cut across generic lines but range from anonymous aphorisms to excerpts from William Wordsworth. This heterogeneous collection is united by an overarching commitment to proper mourning, the idea that the excesses and agonies of grief can be corralled by the words of an appropriate guide. Like every mourning manual, The Mourner’s Book seeks to be that guide, to take control of the reader’s grief by designating certain behaviors, beliefs, and literary texts as those the grief-stricken should cling to.
