Mossey Madness has begun.
The event is loosely based on the annual frenzy of NCAA March Madness.
Instead of college basketball teams, some of the greatest authors and thinkers in the Western tradition will vie for the winning bracket. Milton, Dostoevsky, Churchill, Aristotle, and many others are pitted against one another in the tournament brackets, to be assisted in their battle for supremacy by the votes of Hillsdale students, faculty, and staff.
Voting began Monday. Participants will need to visit the library homepage regularly in order to check brackets and vote. The grand prize winner and a friend will, at the end of the contest, be awarded a tour of Hillsdale’s infamous tunnel system with Director of Campus Security and Emergency Management Bill Whorley. The runner-up will receive a $20 gift card, redeemable at A.J.’s Café and Jitters Coffee Cart. Third place gets a $10 gift card.
Library Director Dan Knoch has submitted a bracket — indeed, he’s already begun voting. But when asked to reveal his predicted victor, Knoch refused, then laughed.
“I don’t know,” Knoch said. “Should I give that away?”
Public Service Librarian Brenna Wade was more forthcoming with her own predictions.
“I filled out a bracket myself just for fun,” Wade said. “I had the ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ and ‘Paradise Lost’ in the final bracket, with ‘Paradise Lost’ winning.”
A love of books is widely shared at Hillsdale. The contest is an opportunity to reach out to campus in an unconventional way. Technical Service Librarian LeAnne Rumler hopes the contest will bring students together over the books in the brackets.
“I hope that it reaches students,” she said. “It’s fun to have a little bit of friendly competition.”
When voting, students will have to factor in not only personal preferences, but the literary worth of the books in the brackets. Wade said she experienced this tension when filling out her own tournament predictions.
“Narnia is very dear to my heart,” Wade said. “But I felt that ‘Paradise Lost’ was a tad more literary. But the voting process will probably end up being very personal.”
Knoch went a step further, taking into account the student following behind Associate Professor of English Justin Jackson. “The Brothers Karamazov” and “Notes from Underground,” two beloved works of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, are head-to-head in an early bracket. Jackson has endorsed “The Brothers Karamazov” in the past. He confirmed in an email that it is, in his evaluation, Dostoevsky’s “best” work, though by a narrow margin.
“I was trying to put myself into the mindset of the students,” Knoch said. “Dr. Jackson has spoken on it and I know that he has a significant following on campus.”
In the end, only one esteemed title and author may emerge the victor.
“May the best book win,” Wade said.
