Festschrift
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In academia, a Festschrift (/ˈfɛstˌʃrɪft/; plural, Festschriften, /ˈfɛstˌʃrɪf.tən/) is a book honouring a respected academic. The term, borrowed from German, could be translated as celebration publication.
A Festschrift contains original contributions by the so-honoured academic's close colleagues, often including their former doctoral students. It is typically published on the occasion of an anniversary. A Festschrift can be anything from a slim volume to a work in several volumes. It often includes important contributions to scholarship or science.
There is no fixed anniversary for a festschrift but they are frequently published on an academic's sixtieth birthday in Germany. In the case of very prominent academics, many Festschriften might be prepared. The act of preparing a Festschrift is a position of honor in Germany and being selected by a prominent academic to edit a festschrift can symbolize the proverbial passing of the torch.
Since no English designation for such a book has been established, the German word Festschrift is widely used internationally. However, Festschriften are often titled something like Essays in honour of... or Essays presented to...
Another common spelling used by academics is "Feschrift."[citation needed]
[edit] Academics who had a notable Festschrift
- B. T. S. Atkins
- Greg L. Bahnsen
- Benjamin Bederson [1]
- Jagdish Bhagwati
- Gordon Clark
- Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think
- Herbert Dreyfus
- Sir Raymond Firth Three Festschriften in his honour
- Joseph Goguen
- D.Thomas Hanks, Jr.
- Raul Hilberg
- Richard Hofstadter
- Stephen Kleene
- James L. Massey
- Thomas Schaub Noonan
- Jens Rasmussen
- Cornelius Van Til
- Charles Williams
- Cornelius H. Vanderwolf
[edit] Webfestschrift
Increasingly, Festschriften are being compiled and published by electronic means. An electronic Festschrift is often called a Webfestschrift (pronounced either /vɛb-/ or /wɛb-/). Although there are many valuable collections published online, the first public use of this term corresponds to B.I Marshak's Webfestschrift, Eran ud Aneran, published online on October 2003.
