I am a bit surprised, and a little discouraged, that virtually nobody on
the LIST has any ideas about scholarship dealing with Mark Twain's grief
--especially with his reactions in the years after Susy died.  Does this
mean there is no coverage of this issue to be found !?

I should confess there is one book called _The Grief Taboo_ by Pamela Boker
in which several chapters cover this topic -- unsatisfactorily, in my view.
 Does anyone else know of this book?  I would be interested in your
opinions of Boker's basic theses there.

Obviously, some of the biographies cover it as well.  I think Andy Hoffman
does a good job of discussing some aspects of the emotional trauma,
particularly the historical details;  Everett Emerson's bio considers how
the grief affected some of Twain's specific writings of the period.  The
other books really do not have much to say.

Again:  why is that?  One book on grief labels matters of emotional trauma
asscoiated with grief to be a social taboo.  Is that it?  Does anyone have
some further ideas on these questions?

Harold K. Bush, Ph. D.
Saint Louis University