Kac-Moody root datum introductory text?

Question

I have been given a project to describe the construction of the Lie algebra associated to a Kac-Moody root datum $D=(I,A,\Lambda, (c_i)_{i\in I}, (h_i)_{i\in I})$.

I only know basic definitions: that of a Lie algebra, what a Kac-Moody root datum is, etc. What I would like to find is a textbook which introduces these notions without assuming knowledge of Cartan matrices, root spaces, etc.

I don't have much to go on, and the references given to me by my professor are well over my head (I am an analyst). Thank you!

Answer 1

You may be interested in "Victor kac and robert moody: their paths to kac-moody lie algebras" written by Stephen Berman and Karen Hunger Parshall. Here is a link to the article: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF03025312.

EDIT: This is a nice historical perspective of how they constructed the algebras. It is a nice start to get an appreciation for their construction.