Robert T. Farrell – författare

"A breadth of interdisciplinary voices" discuss how geographical insularity - specifically that of Britain and Ireland - has affected artistic tradition.A generously illustrated collection, The Insular Tradition explores the various ways in which tradition becomes part of our definition of insular culture and cultural history. The essays are the outcome of a conference held within the Medieval Academy of America meeting at Kalamazoo in 1991. Scholars from America, Scandinavia, Britain, and Ireland came together to discuss the latest research on the remarkable Christian art which flourished among the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon peoples in the Early Medieval Period. New discoveries and a renewed research interest are shedding light on the splendid manuscript illuminations, sculpture, and metalwork of the time. Historical sources are reanalyzed and, together with modern approaches to interpretation, provide fascinating new insights into the social, economic, and spiritual background of the creative artists.This book presents a number of challenging reinterpretations of landmark achievements such as the Book of Kells, the Irish High Crosses, and the enigmatic symbolic and decorative systems of the Pictish people of Scotland. The contributors discuss the processes of creativity, the way in which influences are transmitted, the cross-fertilization of the arts in different media, and the role of trade and exchange and of the patron.Extensive illustrations, some of them difficult to source elsewhere, and comprehensive up-to-date bibliographies make the volume especially useful to those wishing to find a suitable point of entry into this expanding and ever-changing field.

A moving and thoughtful tribute, this book, originally published in 1979, offers fourteen essays dedicated to the memory of J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973). The contributors, a distinguished group of his friends, colleagues, and former students, address a wide and diverse range of subjects. The first part of the book contains material on Tolkien the man and the scholar. It includes his obituary notices from The Times of London and his valedictory address at Oxford in which he points out, eloquently and purposefully, the artificiality of the split between language and literary study. The second part consists of critical essays representing Tolkien's major scholarly interests—Old Norse, Old English, and Middle English literatures. The last part includes three pieces on Tolkien's popular writings, particularly The Lord of the Rings, and a bibliography of his published writings.