Festschrift
Encyclopedia
In academia
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...

, a Festschrift (ˈfɛstʃrɪft; plural
Plural
In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...

, Festschriften, [ˈfɛstʃrɪftən] or Festschrifts), is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during his or her lifetime. The term, borrowed from German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, could be translated as celebration publication or celebratory (piece of) writing. A comparable book presented posthumously is called a Gedenkschrift (memorial publication).

A Festschrift contains original contributions by the honored academic's close colleagues, often including his or her former doctoral
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...

 students. It is typically published on the occasion of the honoree's retirement, sixtieth or sixty-fifth birthday, or other notable career anniversary. A Festschrift can be anything from a slim volume to a work in several volumes. Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt
Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt
Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, commonly referred to by its German acronym, ANRW, or in English as Rise and Decline of the Roman World, is an extensive collection of books dealing with the history and culture of ancient Rome...

, for example, began in 1972 as a Festschrift to commemorate the 75th birthday of Joseph Vogt
Joseph Vogt
Joseph Vogt was a German classical historian, one of the leading 20th century experts on Roman history....

, a German classical historian. Four volumes were planned, but it has since reached 89 volumes (including several which were planned for the next years, but put on hold in 1998). The essays usually relate in some way to, or reflect upon, the honoree's contributions to their scholarly field, but can include important original research by the authors. Many Festschriften also feature a tabula gratulatoria, an extended list of academic colleagues and friends who send their best wishes to the honoree.

In the case of very prominent academics, several Festschriften might be prepared by various groups of students and colleagues, particularly if the scholar made significant contributions to several different fields.

In Germany it is an honor to be designated to prepare such a collection, and being selected by a prominent academic to edit a Festschrift can symbolize the proverbial passing of the torch.

Endel Tulving
Endel Tulving
Endel Tulving is an experimental psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist whose research on human memory has influenced generations of psychological scientists, neuroscientists, and clinicians...

, a Canadian neuroscientist, proposed that "a Festschrift frequently enough also serves as a convenient place in which those who are invited to contribute find a permanent resting place for their otherwise unpublishable or at least difficult-to-publish papers."

The word has become widely used internationally. Since no English term for such a book had been in use, the German word Festschrift has been incorporated into the English language and typically is used without the italics that designate a foreign term, although the capitalization of the first letter is retained from German. Its plural may be either "Festschriften" or "Festschrifts". However, Festschriften are often titled something like Essays in Honour of... or Essays Presented to...

Increasingly, Festschriften are being compiled and published by electronic means. An electronic Festschrift is often called a Webfestschrift . The first public use of this term was for Boris Marshak
Boris Marshak
Boris Ilich Marshak was an archeologist who spent more than fifty years excavating the Sogdian ruins at Panjakent, Tajikistan.-Biography:Boris Ilich Marshak was born in Luga, Leningrad Oblast, Russian SFSR July 9, 1933...

's Webfestschrift, Eran ud Aneran, published online in October 2003.

Unusual Festschriften and feats concerning Festschriften

  • Jagdish Bhagwati
    Jagdish Bhagwati
    Jagdish Natwarlal Bhagwati is an Indian-American economist and professor of economics and law at Columbia University. He is well known for his research in international trade and for his advocacy of free trade....

     has been honored with six Festschriften, an extraordinary number. Three were presented in Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States, the latter two on Bhagwati’s 60th birthday and the former during a scientific conference held at Rotterdam at the time of the award of an honorary degree. On Bhagwati’s 70th Birthday, two Festschrift conferences were organized. The sixth and final Festschrift was organized on 5 August 2005.
  • James D. McCawley
    James D. McCawley
    James David McCawley was an American linguist.McCawley was born James Quillan McCawley, Jr. to Dr. Monica Bateman McCawley , a physician and surgeon, and James Quillan McCawley , a businessman...

     Two Festschriften, the earlier one (1972) subtitled Defamatory essays presented to James D. McCawley on his 33rd or 34th birthday and anthologizing pseudonymous articles. Some are by McCawley himself, notably the opening paper. The Festschrift was reprinted two decades later.
  • Musicologist Egon Voss's Festschrift would already be worthy of note just for being presented on his fortieth birthday (most being for 65th or later birthdays). What makes it especially stand out is the content: a set of articles by eminent scholars discussing a fictional composer Otto Jägermeier—a joke carried to a high extreme.

Festschriften for nonacademics

  • Though Isaac Asimov
    Isaac Asimov
    Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...

     was best known for his long and illustrious career as a science fiction author, his writing came second to his academic career early in his life. In 1989, a number of his colleagues assembled an anthology which they called a festschrift to honor the scientific contribution Asimov had made through his fiction, such as the many scientific terms he had coined. The anthology, entitled Foundation's Friends
    Foundation's Friends
    Foundation's Friends, Stories in Honor of Isaac Asimov is a 1989 festschrift honoring science fiction author Isaac Asimov, in the form of an anthology of short stories set in Asimov's universes, particularly the Robot/Empire/Foundation universe. The anthology was edited by Martin H...

    , included tributes to Thiotimoline
    Thiotimoline
    Thiotimoline is a fictitious chemical compound conceived by science fiction author Isaac Asimov and first described in a spoof scientific paper titled "The Endochronic Properties of Resublimated Thiotimoline" in 1948...

    , a fictional substance Asimov wrote about during his Ph.D. studies, as well as many tributes to robotics, a term coined by Asimov in the 1941 short story "Liar!"
  • Irving Kristol
    Irving Kristol
    Irving Kristol was an American columnist, journalist, and writer who was dubbed the "godfather of neoconservatism"...

    , an American intellectual and founder of The Public Interest
    The Public Interest
    The Public Interest was a quarterly public policy journal founded by established New York intellectuals Daniel Bell and Irving Kristol in 1965. It was a leading neoconservative journal on political economy and culture, aimed at a readership of journalists, scholars, and policy makers...

    , was honored on his 75th birthday in 1995 with The Neoconservative Imagination (AEI Press), edited by Christopher DeMuth
    Christopher DeMuth
    Christopher C. DeMuth is an American lawyer. He was the president of the American Enterprise Institute , a conservative think tank, from 1986 to 2008. DeMuth is widely credited with reviving AEI's fortunes after its near-bankruptcy in 1986 and leading the institute to new levels of influence and...

     and Kristol's son, William Kristol
    William Kristol
    William Kristol is an American neoconservative political analyst and commentator. He is the founder and editor of the political magazine The Weekly Standard and a regular commentator on the Fox News Channel....

    , editor and publisher of The Weekly Standard
    The Weekly Standard
    The Weekly Standard is an American neoconservative opinion magazine published 48 times per year. Its founding publisher, News Corporation, debuted the title September 18, 1995. Currently edited by founder William Kristol and Fred Barnes, the Standard has been described as a "redoubt of...

    (ISBN 0844738999)
  • Charles Williams
    Charles Williams (UK writer)
    Charles Walter Stansby Williams was a British poet, novelist, theologian, literary critic, and member of the Inklings.- Biography :...

     - Essays Presented to Charles Williams was already planned by its editor (and fellow Inklings
    Inklings
    The Inklings was an informal literary discussion group associated with the University of Oxford, England, for nearly two decades between the early 1930s and late 1949. The Inklings were literary enthusiasts who praised the value of narrative in fiction, and encouraged the writing of fantasy...

     member), C. S. Lewis
    C. S. Lewis
    Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...

     when Williams unexpectedly died in 1945. Long in print, the book contains essays by Lewis himself ("On Stories"), J. R. R. Tolkien
    J. R. R. Tolkien
    John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

     ("On Fairy Stories"), Dorothy Sayers on Dante
    DANTE
    Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...

    , and essays by Gervase Mathew, Owen Barfield
    Owen Barfield
    Owen Barfield was a British philosopher, author, poet, and critic.Barfield was born in London. He was educated at Highgate School and Wadham College, Oxford and in 1920 received a 1st class degree in English language and literature. After finishing his B. Litt., which became the book Poetic...

     and Warren Lewis
    Warren Lewis
    Warren Hamilton Lewis was an Irish British Army officer and historian, best known as the brother of the author and professor C. S. Lewis. Warren Lewis was a supply officer with the Royal Army Service Corps of the British Army during and after World War I...

    .
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