Until this year, no one since 1907 had dared put together an encyclopedia of Mississippi.
Ted Ownby probably understands why. The idea alone seems overwhelming.
Ownby is the co-editor, along with Charles Reagan Wilson, of The Mississippi Encyclopedia, which is currently warping the bookshelves (it weighs a whopping nine pounds) at bookstores throughout the state. It took 14 years to compile.
Ownby came to town this week to promote the book.
It is an impressive, almost overwhelming work and to date, possibly the best answer to the question: If you were stranded on a desert island and could have only one book what would it be? When the rescue ship arrived, you would probably still be in the “Rs.”
There are some 1,400 entries produced by 650 contributors, people chosen for their specific knowledge of the subject at hand.
Like all encyclopedias, The Mississippi Encyclopedia is many things. Obviously, it is a reference book, but it is also an authentic effort for historical preservation. For every well-known artist, musician, writer there are dozens of peers who made important contributions, yet have been untouched by the fickle finger of fame. This book rescues them from obscurity, perhaps at the last possible moment.
Maybe of even greater importance, The Mississippi Encyclopedia is, by far, the most comprehensive written history of our state. It is also the best character study of our place and our people ever produced.
Like all encyclopedias, it is a eclectic assemblage of information, presented in alphabetical order, which makes for some pretty odd couplings. The Presbyterians precede Elvis Presley. Cliff Finch follows Fillipinos. Tig Notaro is next to Noxubee County. Governors Barnett, Bilbo and Bryant are neighbors, both in the book and ideologically, some would argue.
The book dutifully records all of the basic facts on historical people, places , culture and events that comprise the skeleton of what we have become and why we are who we are.
But, of far more interest to me, it also contains multitudes of unexpected entries that surprise, delight, depress and bewilder.
People have always wondered why Mississippi, generally considered the least literate state, has produced some many masters of literature. Spend some time with The Mississippi Encyclopedia and you begin to develop a pretty solid theory to explain that.
Every great writer needs great characters and the story of Mississippi is a character that rivals any of the memorable people invented by Faulkner or Welty or Williams. Before Ab Snopes, before Blanche DuBois or Laurel Hand, Mississippi itself modeled all of the inconsistencies, the flaws, the virtues, the eccentricities, the failures and successes that together create a memorable, truly multi-dimensional character.
The authors and editors of The Mississippi Encyclopedia do not flinch in their portrayals. Within its pages is enough material to convince the reader that Mississippi is home to about the sorriest bunch of people who ever drew a breath. Within those same pages, there is enough material to make the reader fall helplessly, hopelessly, eternally in love with her.
Faulkner, for all his mastery, never invented a character that could compare to Mississippi. Williams wouldn’t try. Welty wouldn’t even consider it.
Buried within these 1,500 pages are the scattered, unorganized outlines of perhaps a hundred novels, all just waiting to be discovered by the next great generation of Southern writers.
The Mississippi Encyclopedia is a big book, full of big ideas.
The first entry — Mahmound Abdul-Rauf — is a Muslim basketball player. The last entry — Zig Ziglar — was a Christian motivational speaker. That is consistent with the nature of The Mississippi Encyclopedia. There is nothing linear in this book, nothing at all.
And, of course, that’s the fun of it.
It’s the kind of a book that almost makes you wish to be stuck on a desert island.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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