The Secret of Kells

The secret in The Secret of Kells is elusive. Is it the boy? The book? Illumination? The forest? A fairy? Perhaps all of these: The story of a boy, a book, and its illumination brought forth by a fairyled darknesstolight forest sojourn. The secret remains, it seems, revealed for each viewer in light of their own experience traveling through the sacred groves, following the willo’thewisp, to find that fears and their triumph come at a cost and are essential to one’s own becoming. The Secret of Kells, a 2009 Oscarnominated animated film directed by Thom Moore, is set in medieval Ireland. It follows the travails of a twelveyearold boy monk, Brendan, and his coming of age as a master illuminator. This enchanting film contains the seeds of identity for a nation, the artistry of an age, and the power of resilience through the struggles of one generation becoming the next. As Brendan becomes a man, transformation, artistic becoming, and the ageless power of story reveal the darkness and the light through legends that, in truth, “(re) connected Europe to its own past by way of scribal Ireland” (Cahill 1995, 183). Rooted in actual history, The Secret of Kells is a composite sketch of events that took place from about the seventh to the ninth century in Ireland. During this time, Viking raiders repeatedly plundered Iona, Lindisfarne, and other island monasteries around Scotland, Ireland, and northern England. In 830 ad the monks of Iona fled the Norse longboats in a return to Kells carrying but a few relics, including “the most beautifully written book in existence” (Joyce [1913] 1968, 546): the

Art · Biology · Botany · Darkness · Irish and British Studies

• Kulturotwórcza rola „Irish Folklore Trilogy” Cartoon Saloon w kontekście współczesnej irlandzkiej animacji

  Open Access•Marta Maciejewska•Konteksty Polska Sztuka Ludowa•2025

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