Sun Dancing by Geoffrey Moorhouse
Situated off Ireland's southwest coast, inhospitable and uninhabited today, the Great Skellig or Skellig Michael fascinates all who visit it, and recently served as the magnificent backdrop for the final scene of Star Wars. Recent accidents have caused concern for the safety of the visitors to the rocky outcrop but from the sixth to the thirteenth century, Skellig Michael was home to a monastic community that built the 'treacherous' steps and 'dangerous' walkways. Many have wondered about the life of the monks on the rock centuries ago. In this remarkable and refreshing feat of imagination and reconstruction Geoffrey Moorhouse shows how this community worshipped and survived from c500 to 1200AD. Shortlisted for the Booker in 1997, the book is in two parts: in the first, Moorhouse gets inside the minds and austere world of the monks in a fictionalised description of their life, beginning with their arrival on the island and their withdrawal from the world to a life of prayer and fasting, hardship and danger. Subsequent scenes depict aspects of Celtic spirituality, a Viking raid and finally, the departure of the abbot and his aging disciples from the island following a severe storm.The second part is a collection of short essays setting out the evidence for the detail in the first part, and describes the many features of medieval monastic life.Topics covered include the conversion of the Irish to Christianity, Celtic monasticism, lives of early saints and scholars, wildlife and more recent history of the Skelligs."Geoffrey Moorhouse has taken his fascination with the Skellig Islands and created from it a unique work.. Its distinctive combination of documentary fiction and engrossing scholarship will compel many readers."
* Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler's List and The Great Shame *"Highly original, gracefully written, and carefully researched ... Moorhouse can go deep, and his scholarship is impressive."
* The Boston Globe *"Moorhouse writes with eloquence and a quiet humor calculated to charm even the blackest of heathens."
* The Atlantic Monthly *Geoffrey Moorhouse is 'one of the best writers of our time' (The Times), 'a brilliant historian' (Daily Telegraph) and 'a writer whose gifts are beyond category' (Independent on Sunday). He is the award-winning author of eighteen books. In 1982 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His To the Frontier won the Thomas Cook Award for the best travel book of its year in 1984. He lives in a hill village in North Yorkshire.
| SKU | Nicht verfügbar |
| ISBN 13 | 9781848890046 |
| ISBN 10 | 1848890044 |
| Titel | Sun Dancing |
| Autor | Geoffrey Moorhouse |
| Buchzustand | Nicht verfügbar |
| Bindungsart | Paperback |
| Verlag | Gill |
| Erscheinungsjahr | 2009-05-31 |
| Seitenanzahl | 256 |
| Preise | Short-listed for Booker Prize for Fiction 1997 |
| Hinweis auf dem Einband | Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden. |
| Hinweis | Nicht verfügbar |