In a culture which thrives on bland equality (a contemporary euphemism for enforced homogeneity), it’s refreshing for its dissenters when the truly odd characters are literally remembered and chiseled into eternity (that is, presented in non-digital formats).
The good thing about the current nivellation-in-general is of course that the stars that defy ”sameness” stand out so clearly. Of course, not all of these are interesting in the long run. Michael Jackson is interesting as a freak mutation, but Lady Gaga is not. The reason being that Jackson was possessed by forces he couldn’t control on the inside, and Lady Gaga by forces she can’t control on the outside. There’s a huge difference between a ”Neverland” estate and a new fragrance on the already saturated celebrity market. Only the mani(a)cs and eccentrics stand fast when the ebb eventually hits mass cultural novelties.
Well then... Hellelujah! Here’s a new brick-of-a-book containing and celebrating people who are/were not like all the others! The Eccentropedia – The Most Unusual People Who Have Ever Lived (by Chris Mikul, with illustrations by Glenn Smith) is a real treasure chest from which the malaised moderns can pull invaluable gems. Mikul lists, alphabetically, a subjective selection of oddballs, weirdos, crazies, real artists (yes, you hipsters out there, there is actually such a thing as a real artist), sociopaths, avant-gardists, magicians, musicians and many other varieties.
Ruth ”Uriel” Norman (”the Barbara Cartland of UFO cults”), The Shaggs, Sun Ra, Aleister Crowley, Liberace, William Blake, Tiny Tim, Nikola Tesla, Matayoshi (the Japanese Jesus), Screaming Lord Sutch, The Cherry Sisters, Madame Blavatsky, Quentin Crisp, Criswell and hundreds of others, more as well as less known, make your head spin in awe and delight.
The entries are written in a matter-of-fact manner and brilliantly illustrated by Smith in a faux-woodcut style. Biographical basics and descriptions of the associated eccentricities whet one’s appetite for more. Some are pretty well-known characters and appear as kinds of dapper doyens of human integrity, whereas others are very unknown and often stemming from Great British soil. For instance, when did you last read of Michael Fomenko, Australia’s Tarzan? Irish reincarnation reformer Adolphus Cooke? Gender-gerilla crossdressers Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby? Wordsmith visionary Sir Thomas Urquhart (author of Pantochronocanon, Ekskubalauron and Logopandecteision)?
Eccentropedia is like a Reader’s Digest for the utterly blasés who still nurture some hope of one day finding human life interesting. If you don’t have the time to plow through hefty biographies of people who interest you, integrating Eccentropedia can become your saving grace inspirationally. I assure you that you’ll become a more interesting person if you read this book. And, if all goes well, the next step will be to actually get cracking with those hefty biographies. And, who knows, one day you might become an eccentric yourself?
Why are eccentrics important? That’s really a question that shouldn’t have to be posed. But still, these are dire times, so let’s answer by saying that without defiance, mania, creativity, uniqueness, integrity, obssession and vision we would get absolutely nowhere as a species – and even more nowhere on a strictly cultural level. Leaps forward have always been rooted in these qualities. Individuals who’ve stuck to their visions have changed things. Mass movements, on the other hand, have rarely created something worthwhile. And if by chance they have, you can bet your ass that the movement was instigated by an individual with a vision.
The Promethean spirit, whether conscious or not, is as close as human beings will ever get to the concept of the ”divine”. Hence it it no coincidence (pure logic?) that ”God” rhymes with ”Odd”. Read this book and you’ll understand why.
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