Sun Dancing: A Vision of Medieval Ireland, by Moorhouse, Geoffrey
Inventory #: 01486
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Sun Dancing: A Vision of Medieval Ireland, by Moorhouse, Geoffrey. Harvest Book-Harcourt Brace: San Diego, California, 1997. Edition: First paperback edition, stated with full letter line. ISBN: 0156006022. Trade Paperback, 8vo, 5.25 by 8 inches, 284 pages. Pictorial wraps. Includes bibliography.

Condition: Near Fine. Cover lighty rubbed with slight curling to lower front corner. Otherwise fine.

Contents: Author's Note:

Part One can be read as a fiction about a particularly intense form of the monastic life in medieval Ireland; or as a mediation on Celtic spirituality, which is as valid today as it was I the early Middle Ages. Thought the story told in these first pages draws heavily on the imagination, its basis lies in the historical reality of events which began to happen some fourteen hundred years ago, on an inhospitable rock, which rises sensationally from the Atlantic.

Part Two can be seen as a continuation of the narrative, which amplifies the story in a different voice; or it can be used for reference -- it is arranged so that the reader can easily turn to it at any time -- by those impatient for further light to be cast on incidents as they first occur. Its range is much wider than the particular theme of Part One, and it enlarges in some detail on topics that are only just detectable beneath the surface of the earlier text. It treats of the roots and essences of Irishness...

Synopsis:

Travel writer Geoffrey Moorhouse turns his attention to the rigors of Irish monasticism in the medieval period, using a clever and evocative combination of fictional vignettes and more traditional historiography. The resulting work illuminates the evolution of Irish monasticism, from an isolated and austere faith shaped by its island environment to the less zealous, Romanized form that developed as Rome reasserted its primacy.

Publisher's Note:

In a remarkable combination of scholarship and creative imagination, acclaimed English author Geoffrey Moorhouse brings ancient Ireland to life. An endlessly engrossing journey, SUN DANCING tells of a particularly intense form of monastic life which had its origins some 1,400 years ago on the Skellig Islands, cruel rocks rising spectacularly from the Atlantic Ocean.

Visible on a clear day off the west coast of Ireland, the Skellig Islands, a cluster of cruel rocks, rise spectacularly from the Atlantic Ocean. A sanctuary to birds and seals today, for over six hundred years during the middle ages it was a center for a particularly intense form of monastic life, one that acclaimed writer Geoffrey Moorhouse explores with utmost fascination, scholarship, and imagination in Sun Dancing. A must read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of Celtic spirituality, Moorhouse's lively narrative is a superbly imagined account of the monks' isolated life-the spiritual struggles and triumphs and unbelievable physical hardships. To complement and enrich the book, Moorhouse establishes the historical context of Irish monasticism and describes the monks' influence and undeniable role in preserving western civilization, as well as unexpected connections between medieval Ireland and India, Egypt, and Byzantium, and the surviving impact of pagan mythology. An entertaining and enlightening work, Sun Dancing makes medieval Ireland come alive.