Mindful spirit in late Medieval Literature: Essays in Honor of Elizabeth D. Kirk. Edited by Bonnie Wheeler. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Pp. xiii + 266. $69.95.

The festschrift is an odd, and oddly academic, genre. Essays are commissioned for personal rather than thematic reasons, and the motley result often allows a reader to feel justified in looking at items of particular interest and largely ignoring the rest, safe in the assumption that there is no larger argument or important thematic connections. Yet the critical polyvocality of the festschrift is also potentially a source of interest, with such volumes revealing the diversity of critical approaches and methodologies at a particular point in time. It is a pleasure to see both coherence and healthy diversity in the seventeen essays in Mindful Spirit, a collection honoring Elizabeth Kirk, emerita Professor of English at brown University.