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Bright idea?

If you would be interested in participating in an indexing project for Mr. Berry's non-fiction works, please let me know.

I have some small experience with indexing fiction and have been pondering the possibilities for WB's essays. What say you (who have too much extra time on your hands)?

01 UPDATE 12.16: Maybe not such a bright idea. I just indexed the first essay in The Long-Legged House ("The Tyranny of Charity") and am underwhelmed by the result. But it needed doing, just to get the lay of the land.

Big Issue: The job would be easy if I only listed proper names (Harry Caudill, T.V.A., etc), but what about controlling ideas, prominent themes, resonant detail ... ? Always remembering that

  • an index is not a concordance
  • an index must be USEFUL to a reader
  • index-writing requires an active brain

02 UPDATE 12.16: I've composed an index of key terms under the sway of a WB Idea Index. So this could provide some structure into which to place the names (not page #s?) of essays that are concerned with a given term ... hmmm, could be tricky. Don't mind me ... just talking to myself here.

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