Notes
NOTES
ON MY WORK AS AN AUTHOR
TITLE PAGE, OVERLEAF, AND [PREFACE]
TITLE PAGE. With reference to the title page and pp. 1–20, see Supplement, pp. 234–37, 258, 254–56 (Pap. X5 B 143, 144, 145, 147, 252, 259, 207).
DEDICATION. See Supplement, pp. 256–58 (Pap. X5 B 261–64).
NOTE. See Supplement, p. 236 (Pap. X5 B 145).
EPIGRAPH. Gerhard Tersteegen, Sprüche 50, Erbauliches und Beschauliches von Gerhard Tersteegen, ed. A. Gebauer (Stuttgart: 1851), p. 97. See Supplement, p. 254 (Pap. X5 B 259).
PREFACE. See Supplement, pp. 254–56 (Pap. X5 B 207).
THE ACCOUNTING
1. With reference to the heading and the following four paragraphs, see Supplement, pp. 258–60 (Pap. X5 B 191).
2. For continuation of the text, see Supplement, pp. 260–61 (Pap. X5 B 228).
3. With reference to the following paragraph, see Supplement, p. 261 (Pap. X5 B 201).
4. The author of The Sickness unto Death (July 30, 1849) and Practice in Christianity (September 25, 1850). On the name, see, for example, Supplement, pp. 216–17 (Pap. X2 A 147).
5. Two Ethical-Religious Essays, published May 19, 1849; in Without Authority, pp. 47–108, KW XVIII (SV XI 49–109).
6. Ibid., p. 94 (96), freely quoted.
7. Ibid., p. 84 (86).
8. See Supplement, p. 261 (Pap. X5 B 204).
9. Published May 14, 1849; in Without Authority, pp. 1–45 KW XVIII (SV XI 1–46).
10. Published May 14, 1849. See Supplement, p. 178 (Pap. X1 A 79).
11. Published November 14, 1849; in Without Authority, pp. 109–44, KW XVIII (SV XI 245–80).
12. See Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses; pp. 5, 53, 107, 179, 231, 295, KW V (SV III 11, 271; IV 7, 73, 121; V 79). With reference to the footnote, see Pap. X5 B 219, 220.
13. Cf. “An Occasional Discourse,” Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits, pp. 24–25, KW XV (SV VIII 134).
14. In the manner of a midwife, an allusion to the Socratic method. See, for example, Plato, Theaetetus, 150 b d; Platonis quae exstant opera, I-XI, ed. Friedrich Ast (Leipzig: 1819–32; ASKB 1144–54), II, pp. 26–29; The Collected Dialogues of Plato, ed. Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), p. 855 (Socrates speaking):
My art of midwifery is in general like theirs; the only difference is that my patients are men, not women, and my concern is not with the body but with the soul that is in travail of birth. And the highest point of my art is the power to prove by every test whether the offspring of a young man’s thought is a false phantom or instinct with life and truth. I am so far like the midwife that I cannot myself give birth to wisdom, and the common reproach is true, that, though I question others, I can myself bring nothing to light because there is no wisdom in me. The reason is this. Heaven [ó θεóς, “the god” in Theaetetus, The Dialogues of Plato, I–II, tr. Benjamin Jowett (New York: Random House, 1937), II, p. 152] constrains me to serve as a midwife, but has debarred me from giving birth. So of myself I have no sort of wisdom, nor has any discovery ever been born to me as the child of my soul. Those who frequent my company at first appear, some of them, quite unintelligent, but, as we go further with our discussions, all who are favored by heaven make progress at a rate that seems surprising to others as well as to themselves, although it is clear that they have never learned anything from me. The many admirable truths they bring to birth have been discovered by themselves from within. But the delivery is heaven’s work and mine.
15. Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments, see p. 59, KW XII. 1 (SV VII 45).
16. Ibid., p. 617 (537).
17. Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits (March 13, 1847), Works of Love (September 29, 1847), Christian Discourses (April 26, 1848), KW XV, XVI, XVII (SV VIII 109–416, IX, X).
18. Inter et Inter, The Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an Actress, in Christian Discourses, pp. 301–25, KW XVII (SV X 319–44).
19. Two Upbuilding Discourses, Three Upbuilding Discourses, Four Upbuilding Discourses, published in 1843, and three similar volumes with the same titles published in 1844.
20. Two Upbuilding Discourses (1843), in Eighteen Discourses, p. 5, KW V (SV III 11), freely quoted. See notes 12 and 19 above.
21. The manuscript of Postscript was delivered to the printer on December 30, 1845. After typesetting by hand and two sets of page proofs, copies were at the booksellers on February 28, 1846. See JP V 5871 (Pap. VII1 A 2).
22. Frater Taciturnus, “The Activity of a Traveling Esthetician and How He Still Happened to Pay for the Dinner,” Fædrelandet, 2078, December 27, 1845, col. 16653–58; The Corsair Affair, pp. 38–46, KW XIII (SV 422–31).
23. For deleted form of the note, see Supplement, p. 263 (Pap. X5 B 289:11).
24. Two Ages: The Age of Revolution and the Present Age. A Literary Review was published March 30, 1846. KW XIV (SV VIII 3–105).
25. See Supplement, p. 263 (Pap. X5 B 234).
26. See Supplement, p. 264 (Pap. X5 B 289:13).
27. See Supplement, pp. 265–66 (Pap. X5 B 208, 209).
28. See Supplement, p. 265 (Pap. X5 B 208).
29. For continuation of the text, see Supplement, pp. 264–65 (Pap. X5 B 247).
30. With reference to the following four paragraphs, see Supplement, pp. 231–32, 233, 290–94 (Pap. X5 B 211, 212, 222, 168).
31. See note 10 above.
32. With reference to the following paragraph, see Supplement, p. 266 (Pap. X5 B 258).
33. With reference to the following sentence, see Supplement, p. 284 (Pap. X4 A 85).
34. See Supplement, p. 267 (Pap. X5 B 289:21).
35. See Supplement, p. 267 (Pap. X5 B 271, 273).
36. With reference to the heading, see Supplement, pp. 267–68 (Pap. X5 B 272, 290).
37. See note 16 above.
38. Practice in Christianity (September 25, 1850), KW XX (SV XII i–239).
39. Ibid., pp. 7, 73, 149 (ix, 71, 139).
40. For continuation of the text, see Supplement, p. 268 (Pap. X5 B 291:17).
41. See The Corsair Affair, pp. vii-xxii, KW XIII.
42. For continuation of the paragraph, see Supplement, p. 268 (Pap. X5 B 293:19).
43. For continuation of the paragraph, see Supplement, pp. 268–69 (Pap. X5 B 291:41).
44. In the context of the old Slesvig-Holsten issue, Prince Frederick of Augustenburg put himself at the head of a provisional government proclaimed at Kiel in March 1848. A Danish army subdued the rebels as far as the Eider River. A new national assembly of Germany decided to incorporate Slesvig, and a Prussian army under Wrangel drove the Danes back. On August 26, 1848, an armistice was signed in Malmø and the government of the two duchies was entrusted to a commission composed of two Prussians, two Danes, and a fifth member by common consent of the four. War was renewed between March and July 1849. Germans in the duchies increased their army under General Willesen. The Danes trapped Willesen’s army at Idsted on July 23, 1849, and a second armistice was signed between Prussia and Denmark. In July 1850 Prussia concluded a treaty with Denmark and gave up claim to the duchies. In London, May 8, 1852, the leading European powers signed a treaty concerning the succession after Frederik VII, and there was no further outbreak until his death in 1863. From 1848 on, the financial situation of the country was precarious and inflation rampant.
On March 21, 1848, as a result of earlier events, movements, and an enormous demonstration at Christiansborg, King Frederik VII (King Christian VIII had died January 28, 1848) agreed to the dissolution of the ministries. Thereupon the March government, the Moltke-Hvidt government, was formed and Frederik VII declared that he now regarded himself as a constitutional monarch.
45. See Supplement, p. 269 (Pap. X5 B 291:44).
46. With reference to the remainder of the sentence and the following two sentences, see Supplement, pp. 269–70 (Pap. X5 B 291:47).
47. See, for example, Sickness unto Death, p. 93, KW XIX (SV XI 204).
48. For continuation of the sentence, see Supplement, p. 270 (Pap. X5 B 287).
49. For continuation of the text, see Supplement, pp. 270–71 (Pap. X5 B 288).
THE POINT OF VIEW FOR MY WORK AS AN AUTHOR
OVERLEAF
EPIGRAPH. Shakespeare, Henry the Fourth, Part II, II, 2, ll. 195–96 (Prince Henry speaking); Shakspeare’s dramatische Werke, I-XII, tr. August Wilhelm v. Schlegel and Ludwig Tieck (Berlin: 1839–41; ASKB 1883–88), II, p. 35; The Complete Works of Shakespeare, ed. George Lyman Kittredge (Boston: Ginn, 1936), p. 594: “... in everything the purpose must weigh with the folly.”
EPIGRAPH. Hans Adolph Brorson, “Op al den Ting,” st. 12, Psaimer og aandelige Sange, ed. Jens Albrecht Leonhard Holm (Copenhagen: 1838; ASKB 200), 81, p. 237.
CHR. KIERKEGAARD. Søren Kierkegaard’s brother Bishop Peter Christian Kierkegaard arranged for the publication of The Point of View four years after the author’s death.
INTRODUCTION
1. See Supplement, pp. 211–14 (Pap. X2 a 104, 106).
2. See Supplement, p. 236 (Pap. X5 B 146).
3. See p. 12.
4. Ecclesiastes 3:7.
5. See Plato, Apology, 30 d-e; Platonis quae exstant opera, I-XI, ed. Friedrich Ast (Leipzig: 1819–32; ASKB 1144–54), VIII, pp. 130–31; The Collected Dialogues of Plato, ed. Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), pp. 16–17 (Socrates speaking):
For this reason, gentlemen, so far from pleading on my own behalf, as might be supposed, I am really pleading on yours, to save you from misusing the gift of God by condemning me. If you put me to death, you will not easily find anyone to take my place. It is literally true, even if it sounds rather comical, that God has specially appointed me to this city, as though it were a large thoroughbred horse which because of its great size is inclined to be lazy and needs the stimulation of some stinging fly. It seems to me that God has attached me to this city to perform the office of such a fly, and all day long I never cease to settle here, there, and everywhere, rousing, persuading, reproving every one of you.
6. See Xenophon, Memorabilia, IV, 8, 5; Xenophontis opera, graece et latine, I-IV, ed. Karl August Thieme (Leipzig: 1801–04; ASKB 1207–10), IV, pp. 264–65; Xenophons Sokratiske Merkværdigheder, tr. Jens Bloch (Copenhagen: 1802), p. 391; Xenophon, Memorabilia and Oeconomicus, tr. E. C. Marchant (Loeb, New York: Putnam, 1923), pp. 354–55.
7. See Matthew 16:26.
8. See Supplement, pp. 271–73 (Pap. IX B 57).
PART ONE
9. Certain published works are not included. From the Papers of One Still Living was a review, as was Two Ages. The Concept of Irony was an academic dissertation. Kierkegaard therefore considered Either/Or as the beginning of his authorship proper. Point of View, published posthumously, was written in 1848; therefore works published subsequently are not listed.
10. The second edition of Either/Or was published May 14, 1849.
11. Two Upbuilding Discourses (1843), Three Upbuilding Discourses (1843), Four Upbuilding Discourses (1843), Two Upbuilding Discourses (1844), Three Upbuilding Discourses (1844), and Four Upbuilding Discourses (1844). In 1845 the remaindered volumes were issued together under the title Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses.
12. Johannes Climacus, pseudonymous author of Postscript. See Postscript, pp. 251–300, KW XII. 1 (SV VII 212–57).
13. See Either/Or, I, pp. 17–43, KW III (SV I 1–27).
14. Michael Pedersen Kierkegaard died August 9, 1838. See Kierkegaard: Utters and Documents, Letter 10, KW XXV; JP V 5335 (Pap. II A 243).
15. Two Upbuilding Discourses was published May 16, 1843, but the preface is dated May 5.
16. Two Upbuilding Discourses (1843), in Eighteen Discourses, p. 5, KW V (SV III 11).
17. Two Upbuilding Discourses (1844), in Eighteen Discourses, p. 179, KW V (SV IV 73).
18. Two Upbuilding Discourses (1843), in Eighteen Discourses, p. 5, KW V (SV III 11).
19. See Historical Introduction in Eighteen Discourses, pp. xviii-xx, KW V.
20. Fear and Trembling, by Johannes de Silentio, was published October 16, 1843.
21. Jakob Peter Mynster (Kts, a pseudonym formed from the initial consonant of the second syllable in each name), “Kirkelig Polemik,” Intelligensblade, IV, 41–42, 1844, pp. 105–06. On Mynster, see Supplement, p. 246 (Pap. X3 A 249) and note 135.
PART TWO
22. The “Living Word” was Nicolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig’s “matchless discovery.” See, for example, Postscript, p. 36, KW XII. 1 (SV VII 25), and note 44.
23. See p. 8 and note 16.
24. The number carried to the next column in arithmetic calculation.
25. Mundus vult decipi ergo decipiatur [the world wants to be deceived; so let it be deceived). Attributed to Pope Paul IV but found earlier in Sebastian Brandt, Narrenschiff. See Augustin Eugène Scribe, Puf! eller Verden vil bedrages, tr. Nicolai Christian Levin Abrahams, Det Kongelige Theaters Repertoire (1849). See also JP V 5937–38; VI 6680 (Pap. VII1 A 147–48; X3 A 450).
26. Part of “The Seducer’s Diary.”
27. See Romans 8:16.
28. Jens Finsteen Gi(j)ødwad (1811–91), journalist, editor of Fædrelandet, and the go-between for Kierkegaard with the printer and bookseller of the pseudonymous works.
29. The familiar second-person singular du has traditionally been used for children, family members, and close friends, rather than the formal De. The use of De has more or less disappeared in recent years.
30. Either/Or, II, p. 205, KW IV (SV II 184), freely quoted.
31. See p. 9 and note 21.
32. Christian Peter Bianco Luno (1795–1852), Copenhagen book printer, who printed most of Kierkegaard’s works.
33. See p. 19 and note 44.
34. An allusion to The Corsair. See The Corsair Affair, pp. xvi-xvii, KW XIII.
35. Danish: Sjouer (day-laborer, street corner loafer, scoundrel), a term used here for an editor serving as a front for a publication in order to divert eventual legal action by the official censor, a tactic used also in The Corsair. See, for example, 128, March 3, 1843, col. 8.
36. Aristotle, Rhetoric, 1419 b; Aristoteles graece, I-II, ed. Immanuel Bekker (Berlin: 1831; ASKB 1074–75), II, p. 1419; The Complete Works of Aristotle, I-II, ed. Jonathan Barnes, (rev. Oxford tr., Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984), II, p. 2268: “Irony better befits a gentleman than buffoonery; the ironical man jokes to amuse himself, the buffoon to amuse other people.”
37. Meïr Goldschmidt, editor of The Corsair. See JP V 5888, 6044; VI 6282 (Pap. VII1 A 99; VIII1 A 252; IX A 432); See Historical Introduction, Corsair Affair, pp. vii, ix, KW XIII.
38. Cf. Isaiah 3:4.
39. See Historical Introduction, Corsair Affair, pp. xiv-xx, KW XIII.
40. See “The Activity of a Traveling Esthetician and How He Still Happened to Pay for the Dinner,” Fædrelandet, 2078, December 27, 1845, col. 16658; Corsair Affair, p. 46, KW XIII (SV XIII 431).
41. “Victor Eremita will never die.” The Corsair, 269, November 14, 1845, col. 14; see Corsair Affair, pp. 46, 96, KW XIII.
42. Kierkegaard’s M. A. dissertation was The Concept of Irony, with Continual Reference to Socrates, KW II (SV XIII 93–393).
43. See Historical Introduction, Corsair Affair, pp. xxix-xxxiii, KW XIII.
44. Marcus Curtius. See Livy, From the Founding of the City (History of Rome), VII, 6; T. Livii Patavini historiarum libri, I-V, ed. August Wilhelm Ernesti (Leipzig: 1801–04; ASKB 1251–55), I, p. 410; Livy, I-XIV, tr. B. O. Foster (Loeb, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967–76), III, p. 373:
That same year, whether owing to an earthquake or to some other violent force, it is said that the ground gave way, at about the middle of the Forum, and, sinking to an immeasurable depth, left a prodigious chasm. This gulf could not be filled with the earth which everyone brought and cast into it, until admonished by the gods, they began to inquire what it was that constituted the chief strength of the Roman People; for this the soothsayers declared that they must offer up, as a sacrifice to that spot, if they wished the Roman Republic to endure. Thereupon Marcus Curtius, a young soldier of great prowess, rebuked them, so the story runs, for questioning whether any blessing were more Roman than arms and valour. A hush ensued, as he turned to the temples of the immortal gods which rise above the Forum, and to the Capitol, and stretching forth his hands, now to heaven, and now to the yawning chasm and to the gods below, devoted himself to death. After which, mounted on a horse caparisoned with all possible splendour, he plunged fully armed into the gulf; and crowds of men and women threw offerings and fruits in after him.
45. See p. 19 and note 44.
46. See Plato, Phaedrus, 230 c; Platonis quae exstant opera, I-XI, ed. Friedrich Ast (Leipzig: 1819–32; ASKB 1144–54), I, p. 152; The Collected Dialogues of Plato, ed. Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), p. 479.
47. Christian Discourses, which was delivered to the printer March 6, 1848, and was published April 26, 1848. See Supplement, p. 171 (Pap. IX A 375); JP VI 6376 (X1 A 202).
48. The volume was published posthumously. See p. xxvii.
49. Cf. Two Discourses at the Communion on Fridays, in Without Authority, p. 165, KW XVIII (SV XII 267).
50. Shakespeare, Richard III, V, 4, 1. 7; William Shakspeare’s Dramatiske Værker, I-XI, tr. Peter Foersom and P. F. Wulff (Copenhagen: 1845–50; ASKB U 103), VI, p. 378; Schlegel and Tieck, III, p. 372; Kittredge, p. 835.
51. Cf. Fear and Trembling, p. 61, KW VI (SV III 111).
52. See Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger, Aladdin, eller den forunderlige Lampe, Adam Oehlenschlägers Poetiske Skrifter, I-II (Copenhagen: 1805; ASKB 1597–98), II, pp. 121–22; Aladdin or the Wonderful Lamp, tr. Henry Meyer (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1968), pp. 48–49.
53. See I Samuel 15:22.
54. See II Corinthians 12:7
55. The reference is to the first Danish edition of Postscript (1846). See Postscript, pp. 252–53, KW XII. 1 (SV VII 213).
56. See, for example, Repetition, p. 135, KW VI (SV III 176), Stages on Life’s Way, pp. 456, 470, KW XI (SV VI 424, 437).
57. See “The Difference between a Genius and an Apostle,” Two Ethical Religious Essays, in Without Authority, pp. 91–108, KW XVIII (SV XI 93–109).
58. Michael Pedersen Kierkegaard died August 9, 1838. See Irony, Historical Introduction, pp. ix-x, KW II.
59. Danish: Faktum [something done]. As is clear from the context, Kierkegaard has in mind here the Latin root facere [to act, do, make]. Cf. Supplement, p. 286 (Pap. X4 A 383).
60. On the writing and reception of Either/Or, see Historical Introduction, Either/Or, I, pp. vii-xi, xvi-xviii, KW III; JP V 5626, 5931 (Pap. IV A 70; VII1 A 92).
61. See Either/Or, I, p. 14, KW III (SV I xvi); Fear and Trembling, p. 8, KW VI (SV III 59–60); Stages, p. 191, KW XI (SV VI 181); Postscript, pp. 5–6, 283, KW XII. 1 (SV VII v-vi, 241).
62. See, for example, Supplement, pp. 162–63, 211–12 (Pap. IX A 213; X2 A 104).
63. Two Upbuilding Discourses was published May 16, 1843, three months after Either/Or.
64. Cf. Either/Or, I, pp. 38–39, KW III (SV I 22–23).
65. See Corsair Affair, Historical Introduction, pp. xiii-xxii, KW XIII.
66. Peder Ludvig Møller (1814–1865), Danish writer and literary critic. See Corsair Affair, Historical Introduction, pp. x-xiii, KW XIII.
67. See p. 172 and note 22.
68. Cf. JP VI 6389, p. 146 (Pap. X1 A 272), on forlovet.
69. With reference to “Conclusion,” see Supplement, pp. 271–73 (Pap. IX B 57).
70. A play on Kjøbstad [market town] and Kjøbenhavn [market harbor].
71. See Ludvig Holberg, Den politiske Kandestøber, IV, 2; Den Danske Skue-Plads, I-VII (Copenhagen: 1788; ASKB 1566–67), I, no pagination; Comedies by Holberg, tr. Oscar James Campbell and Frederic Schenk (New York: American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1914), p. 85.
72. In its many caricatures of Kierkegaard, The Corsair repeatedly ridiculed his legs and trousers. See Corsair Affair, pp. 114–15, 120, 131, 133–35, 171, 186–88, 192–94, 197–99, 201, 222–24, 227, 241, KW XIII.
73. See Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits, p. 24, KW XV (SV VIII 133).
74. See Supplement, p. 167 (Pap. IX A 248).
75. With reference to the title page, see Supplement, pp. 273–74 (Pap. IX B 58–63:2; X5 B 187); to a contemplated epigraph, see Supplement, p. 275 (Pap. X5 B 170); and to the table of contents, see Supplement, p. 274 (Pap. IX B 63:3).
76. Socrates.
77. The text here and following is a play on the Danish Lighed, which means both “equality” and “similarity” or “likeness,” and the suffix -lighed, which, as the English “-liness,” means “like in appearance, manner, or nature.”
78. With reference to “Note No. 1,” see Supplement, pp. 151–53 (Pap. VII1 A 176).
79. Cf. John 14:6.
80. Cf. I Corinthians 9:24; Philippians 3:14.
81. See Plutarch, “Caius Marius,” 39, Lives; Plutarchii vitae parallelae, I-IX, ed. Gottfried Heinrich Schaeffer (Leipzig: 1829; ASKB 1829); Plutarks Levnetsbeskrivelser, I-IV, tr. Stephan Tetens (Copenhagen: 1800–11; ASKB 1197–1200), IV, pp. 318–19; Plutarch’s Lives, I-XI, tr. Bernadotte Perrin (Loeb, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968–84), IX, p. 573:
Upon deliberation, the magistrates and councillors of Minturnae decided not to delay, but to put Marius to death. No one of the citizens, however, would undertake the task, so a horseman, either a Gaul or a Cimbrian (for the story is told both ways), took a sword and went into the room where Marius was. Now, that part of the room where Marius happened to be lying had not a very good light, but was gloomy, and we are told that to the soldier the eyes of Marius seemed to shoot out a strong flame, and that a loud voice issued from the shadows saying: “Man, dost thou dare to slay Caius Marius?” At once, then, the Barbarian fled from the room, threw his sword down on the ground, and dashed out of doors, with this one cry: “I cannot kill Caius Marius.”
82. For continuation of the section, see Supplement, p. 275 (Pap. IX B 63:4).
83. With reference to the following article, see Supplement, pp. 154–56, 275–76 (Pap. VIII1 A 482; VIII2 B 190, 192).
84. See p. 172 and note 22.
85. See p. 66 and note 41.
86. With reference to the following paragraph, see Supplement, p. 276 (Pap. VIII2 B 192).
87. With reference to the two following paragraphs, see Supplement, pp. 186–87 (Pap. X1 A 152).
88. Mendel Levin Nathanson (1780–1868), editor of Berlingske Tidende (1838–58, 1865–66). See “Om den norske Literatur,” Berlingske Tidende, 126, May 28, 1845; Pap. VI B 191; X2 A 155.
89. Presumably a reference to P. L. Møller. “Til Frater Taciturnus,” Fædrelandet, 2079, December 29, 1845, col. 16665: “You will hardly find any way of disarming the criticism other than—not to have your writings printed, whereby you will obtain what you seem to prize so highly, namely, to have only ‘one reader.’” Corsair Affair, p. 104, KW XIII.
90. With reference to the following two paragraphs, see Supplement, pp. 154–56 (Pap. VIII1 A 482).
91. For continuation of the paragraph and with reference to the following paragraph, see Supplement, pp. 276–79 (Pap. IX B 64, 65). See also Supplement, p. 279 (Pap. X5 B 173).
92. Two Ages, pp. 60–112, KW XIV (SV VIII 57–105).
93. Gottfried Ephraim Lessing, Emilia Galotti, II, 4; Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s sämmtliche Schriften, I-XXXII (Berlin, Stettin: 1825–28; ASKB 1747–62), XXI, p. 216.
94. See Matthew 22:21.
95. Either/Or, I, pp. 19, 36, KW III (SV I 3, 20).
96. Ibid., II, p. 210, KW IV (SV II 188–89); Postscript, pp. 252–53, KW XII. 1 (SV VII 213).
97. Works of Love, pp. 17–60, KW XVI (SV IX 21–62).
98. With reference to the following paragraph, see Supplement, pp. 279–80 (Pap. IX B 66).
99. See Supplement, p. 280 (Pap. VIII2 B 195).
100. With reference to the following paragraph, see Supplement, pp. 275–76 (Pap. VIII2 B 190).
101. See, for example, Plato, Gorgias, 474 a; Opera, I, pp. 326–27; Udvalgte Dialoger af Platon, I-VIII, tr. Carl Johan Heise (Copenhagen: 1830–59; ASKB 1164–66, 1169 [I-VII]), III, pp. 68–69; Dialogues, p. 256:
SOCRATES: I am no politician, Polus, and last year when I became a member of the Council and my tribe was presiding and it was my duty to put the question to the vote, I raised a laugh because I did not know how to. And so do not on this occasion either bid me put the question to those present, but if you can contrive no better refutation than this, then leave it to me in my turn, as I suggested just now, and try out what I consider the proper form of refutation. For I know how to produce one witness to the truth of what I say, the man with whom I am debating, but the others I ignore. I know how to secure one man’s vote, but with the many I will not even enter into discussion.
102. See Supplement, pp. 170, 280–83 (Pap. IX A 298, B 63:13).
103. With reference to the heading and following paragraphs, see Supplement, pp. 290–94, 231, 233 (Pap. X5 B 140, 168, 211, 222). See also Supplement, p. 240 (Pap. X5 B 164).
ARMED NEUTRALITY
1. The expression was used initially in international political life in 1780, when Denmark and Russia, and subsequently Sweden, entered into an agreement in Copenhagen for the defense of their rights against England in particular. With reference to the title page, see Supplement, p. 301 (Pap. X5 B 108). See also Supplement, p. 299 (Pap. II A 770; with reference to the piece itself, see Supplement, pp. 209–300, 172–73, 174, 181, 194–96, 198–200 (Pap. IX A 212, 390; X1 A 74, 97, 422, 510).
2. This theme is treated extensively in Two Ages, KW XIV (SV VIII 3–105).
3. See Supplement, p. 209 (Pap. X2 A 80).
4. Elsewhere called “double danger.” See, for example, Works of Love, pp. 192, 194–96, 204, KW XVI (SV IX 183, 185–86, 194).
5. For continuation of the paragraph, see Supplement, p. 302 (Pap. X5 B 109:2).
6. See Matthew 9:16; Mark 2:21.
7. See, for example, Postscript, pp. 561–86, KW XII. 1 (SV VII 490–511).
8. Ibid., pp. 387–561 (335–490).
9. See, for example, Works of Love, pp. 182–191, KW XVI (SV IX 174–82).
10. See, for example, Postscript, pp. 170–71, 303–04, 332–33, KW XII. 1 (SV VII 141, 260, 287). See also JP III 3665 (Pap. VIII1 A 91).
11. See Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, I, 12; Diogenis Laertii de vitis philosophorum libri X, I-II (Leipzig: 1833; ASKB 1109), I, p. 8; Diogen Laërtses filosofiske Historie, I-II, tr. Børge Riisbrigh (Copenhagen: 1812; ASKB 1110–11), I, p. 5; Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, I-II, tr. R. D. Hicks (Loeb, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980), I, p. 13: “But the first to use the term, and to call himself a philosopher or lover of wisdom was Pythagoras; for, said he, no man is wise, but God alone.” See also Supplement, pp. 205–06, 245 (Pap. X1 A 646; X3 A 204).
12. Michael Nielsen (1776–1846). Kierkegaard attended the secondary school for eight years. See Kierkegaard: Letters and Documents, Document VI, pp. 5–7, KW XXV.
13. “For use of the Dauphin,” the eldest son of the French king. The phrase refers to expurgated editions of the Latin classics and, by extension, the use of a simple example.
14. Cf. Plato, Phaedrus, 229 d-230 a; Platonis quae exstant opera, I-XI, ed. Friedrich Ast (Leipzig: 1819–32; ASKB 1144–54), I, pp. 130–31; The Collected Dialogues of Plato, ed. Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), p. 478 (Socrates speaking):
I can’t as yet “know myself,” as the inscription at Delphi enjoins, and so long as that ignorance remains it seems to me ridiculous to inquire into extraneous matters. Consequently I don’t bother about such things, but accept the current beliefs about them, and direct my inquiries, as I have just said, rather to myself, to discover whether I really am a more complex creature and more puffed up with pride than Typhon, or a simpler, gentler being whom heaven has blessed with a quiet, un-Typhonic nature.
See also Fragments, p. 37, KW VII (SV IV 204); Irony, p. 177, KW II (SV XIII 260).
SUPPLEMENT
1. “An Occasional Discourse,” Part One, Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits, p. 4, KW XV (SV VIII 116).
2. Plato, Apology, 18 c-d; Platonis quae exstant opera, I-XI, ed. Friedrich Ast (Leipzig: 1819–32; ASKB 1144–54), VIII, p. 104; The Collected Dialogues of Plato, ed. Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), p. 5.
3. This plan was not carried out.
4. This plan was not carried out.
5. Inter et Inter, The Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an Actress, Fædrelandet, 188–91, June 24–27, 1848; in Christian Discourses, pp. 301–25, KW XVII (SV X 319–44).
6. See note 5 above.
7. Ibid.
8. For a time it seemed as if Rasmus Nielsen (1809–1884), professor of philosophy, University of Copenhagen, would be permitted to be a “follower” of Kierkegaard (see, for example, Pap. IX A 220 and X1 A 406), but this incipient exceptional relationship was not continued. See, for example, JP VI 6239 (Pap. IX A 229); Letters, Letter 247, KW XXV.
9. Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits (March 13, 1847), Works of Love (September 29, 1847), and Christian Discourses (April 26, 1848).
10. See p. 7 and note 14.
11. See note 5 above.
12. See p. 97
13. See Practice, pp. 173–78, KW XX (SV XII 162–66).
14. See Supplement, pp. 271–73 (Pap. IX B 57). Eventually the Supplement to Point of View (pp. 101–26) contained two notes. Note no. 3 was used in the Preface to the Two Discourses at the Communion on Fridays, p. 165, KW XVIII (SV XII 267).
15. P. 75
16. Nytorv 2, Copenhagen. Kierkegaard inherited a substantial sum (with part of which he and brother Peter Christian bought the family house at the liquidation auction) from his father at the time of his death, August 9, 1838. During the next ten years, Kierkegaard lived fairly well on this money and paid full publication costs of his first nineteen books, only one of which sold out. F. Brandt and E. Rammel, in Kierkegaard og Pengene, p. 54 (Copenhagen: 1935), pointing out that Kierkegaard received a writer’s honorarium from Reitzel after August 1847, reckon that Kierkegaard’s total net proceeds from sales and honoraria were an average of 300 rix-dollars per year over seventeen years. This they calculate as equaling 1,500 Danish crowns in 1935, or approximately $300 annually, which in 1973 dollars would be roughly $1,500. In 1846 Kierkegaard entertained the idea of seeking a state grant, which was not uncommon as patronage of the arts and letters. He did not pursue this notion. In December 1847 the brothers sold the house (Nytorv 2), and Kierkegaard kept part of his share of the proceeds in government bonds that deteriorated badly in the war period, put some into shares that were held through the bad times 1848–49, and kept some in cash, which also deteriorated because of rampant inflation. In the later years of his life, Kierkegaard became more stringent about his expenses. He divided what he had into units, which were placed in the custody of his brother-in-law Henrik Ferdinand Lund of the National Bank. Shortly before his death he drew out the last portion. See JP V 5881 (Pap. VII1 B 211).
17. The corner of Rosenborggade and Tornebuskegade 156 (now 7), rented January 28, 1848, at 295 rix-dollars annually, later six rooms at 400.
18. Christian Discourses was published April 26, 1848.
19. The census report of February 1845 lists Anders Westergaard Christensen, servant, as living at Nytorv 2. Anders accompanied Søren Kierkegaard on the Jutland pilgrimage. In 1848 Anders was conscripted into the military. In September 1847 Kierkegaard wrote a letter of recommendation for him. See Breve og Aktstykker vedrørende Søren Kierkegaard, I-II, ed. Niels Thulstrup (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1954), II, p. 55 (tr. Bruce H. Kirmmse):
The applicant has been in my service since May 1844. Since that time he has satisfied even my most fastidious demands so completely that I can truthfully and emphatically recommend him in every respect. Sober, moral, always mentally alert, unconditionally dependable, used to keeping quiet, not without a certain degree of intelligence, which enables one to allow him to take care of things a bit on his own: he has been so indispensable to me that I would truly be delighted to keep him in my service. To my way of thinking, that is the highest recommendation I could give anyone. If it is possible that any of these qualities, to which I have truthfully testified, could render him suited to the particular requirements of the position for which he has applied, and that these qualities could direct favorable attention to the applicant, and if my recommendation, which is admittedly from someone whom you do not know, could have any favorable influence on decisions regarding the applicant’s future, this would be a source of genuine joy to me, because I feel myself highly obligated to recommend him in every way.
20. “The Sickness unto Death,” “Practice in Christianity,” “A Cycle of Ethical-Religious Essays,” “Armed Neutrality,” “The Point of View.”
21. See note 8 above.
22. On December 22, 1845, P. L. Møller’s Gæa, Æsthetisk Aarbog for 1846, was published. It contained a long piece by Møller titled “A Visit to Sorø,” a large portion of which was a rather supercilious review of the pseudonymous works. Frater Taciturnus replied with “The Activity of a Traveling Esthetician and How He Still Happened to Pay for the Dinner” (Corsair Affair, KW XIII, pp. 38–46 [SV XIII 422–31]), Fædrelandet, 2078, December 27, 1845. The closing paragraph of the article in Fædrelandet constituted the opening of Kierkegaard’s public attack on The Corsair, which carried on its political satire and destruction of personal reputations anonymously. The single Latin line, ubi P. L. Mæller, ibi Corsaren [where P. L. Møller is, there is The Corsair], stated publicly what was known in literary circles and had already been published in Erslew’s Forfatter-Lexicon, “Peder Ludwig Mæller,” II, p. 406 (Copenhagen: 1847, but published in sections from 1843)—that P. L. Møller was a writer for The Corsair. Møller left Denmark later in 1846 and never returned. The owner and editor, Meïr Goldschmidt, gave up The Corsair October 2, 1846, and traveled abroad for a year. In the meantime, The Corsair launched a continuing campaign of ridicule and personal attack upon Kierkegaard, which resulted in his being unable to remain the foremost peripatetic conversationalist of the Copenhagen streets. Although Kierkegaard felt this keenly, he had known the risks involved in taking on The Corsair single-handedly. The entire Corsair affair was a prolonged event consciously initiated by him, through writing as an ethical act, in order to precipitate the murkiness of anonymity and to diminish the power of journalistic intimidation, and also to separate Goldschmidt, in whom he saw real ability, from The Corsair. See Corsair Affair, KW XIII, passim.
23. The two subdivisions and the projected third part became the three parts of Practice.
24. Michael Pedersen Kierkegaard was fifty-seven when Søren was born.
25. The envisioned work “A Cycle of Ethical-Religious Essays” originally had the following parts (see Pap. IX B 1–6): Preface; no. 1, “Something on What Might Be Called ‘Premise-Authors’”; no. 2, “The Dialectical Relations: The Universal, the Single Individual, the Special Individual”; no. 3, “Does a Human Being Have the Right to Let Himself Be Put to Death for the Truth?”; no. 4, “A Revelation in the Situation of the Present Age”; no. 5, “A Psychological Interpretation of Magister Adler as a Phenomenon and as a Satire upon Hegelian Philosophy and the Present Age”; and no. 6, “The Difference between a Genius and an Apostle.” Two Ethical-Religious Essays, by Η. H., published May 19, 1849, contains a preface and no. 3 and 6 of the above. “The Book on Adler,” which remained in manuscript form, included a preface (Kierkegaard wrote eight different prefaces for it) and other parts listed above.
26. See note 16 above.
27. “Three [eventually Two] Notes” and “Armed Neutrality.”
28. “Armed Neutrality,” “The Point of View,” “Practice in Christianity,” and “A Cycle of Ethical-Religious Essays.”
29. See note 25 above.
30. Ibid.
31. Ibid.
32. The Lily in the Field and the Bird of the Air and the second edition of Either/Or were published May 14, 1849. See Letters, Letters 154–57, KW XXV.
33. In addition to the two “notes” in Point of View, pp. 101–26, KW XXII (SV XIII 591–610), the projected “Three ‘Notes’ Concerning My Work as an Author” included what became the preface to the two “Friday Discourses.” See preface to Two Discourses at the Communion on Fridays, in Without Authority, p. 165, KW XVIII (SV XII 267).
34. See note 18 above.
35. Essay no. III in “A Cycle” and essay no. I in Two Essays, “Does a Human Being Have the Right to Let Himself Be Put to Death for the Truth?”
36. The “Three ‘Notes’ Concerning My Work as an Author” intended to be the Supplement to “The Point of View” were: (1) “For the Dedication to ‘that Single Individual,’” (2) “A Word on the Relation of My Work as an Author to ‘The Single Individual,’” and (3) “Preface to the ‘Friday Discourses.’” Eventually no. 3 was omitted. A shortened version of no. 3 was used as the preface to Two Discourses at the Communion on Fridays (1851).
37. This term, seemingly inconsistent here, is a sample of Kierkegaard’s penchant for using words in their elemental meaning. The Danish words for “art” and “artistic” are Kunst and kunsterisk, derived from the root kunne, “to be able” (see Pap. V B 53:29, p. 120; VIII2 B 83; Postscript, pp. 349–60, KW XII. 1 [SV VII 303–12]). In this elemental sense, the art is to live, the existential thinker’s life is a being-able, a making, a doing, an embodying in personal being of what he understands.
38. Hans Christian Andersen, who, for example, clearly used his own personal history in “The Ugly Duckling.”
39. The last two pieces became no. 1 and no. 2 (of three) of Practice in Christianity, published September 25, 1850.
40. See note 36 above.
41. The Lily in the Field and the Bird of the Air, Three Devotional Discourses, published May 14, 1849.
42. See note 41 above.
43. Ibid.
44. Regine Olsen. See note 159 below.
45. Postscript, p. 147, KW XII. 1 (SV VII 120–21), freely quoted.
46. Two Upbuilding Discourses, preface dated May 5 (Kierkegaard’s birthday) and book published May 16, 1843. “The Accounting” became the main part of On My Work as an Author, pp. 5–11.
47. Not used in the printed version of “On My Work.”
48. See, for example, Practice, pp. 173–79, KW XX. (SV XII 162–66).
49. Socrates.
50. See Mark 9:49.
51. See Luke 7:47.
52. See JP VI 6178 (Pap. IX A 106). The two preceding paragraphs constitute Kierkegaard’s thumbnail autobiography: his Christian upbringing and vision of Christ, his view of Socrates, his engagement, the Corsair affair, his relationship with his father, all in the context of his sense of vocation, penitence, and mature religious life.
53. Two Ethical-Religious Essays, by Η. H., published May 19, 1849.
54. “The Accounting.”
55. Part IV of Christian Discourses (See note 18 above).
56. See note 41 above.
57. No. 1, 2, and 4 of “Cycle.” See note 25 above.
58. Carl A. Reitzel (1789–1852), Copenhagen publisher and bookseller.
59. See note 55 above.
60. See note 16 above.
61. Danish Livslede, life-weariness with an admixture of sadness and disgust.
62. Kierkegaard regarded all differentiating talents as esthetic differences. Genuine human equality is found only in the realm of ethical-religious possibility independent of personal gifts.
63. See Luke 12:49.
64. The publication of “The Collected Works of Completion.” See Supplement, pp. 172–73 (Pap. IX A 390) and writings on his work as an author.
65. See Supplement, pp. 172–73 (Pap. IX A 390).
66. For Kierkegaard’s distinction between “upbuilding” and “for upbuilding,” see JP V 5686 (Pap. IV B 159:6).
67. The Sickness unto Death, by Anti-Climacus, was published July 30, 1849.
68. See note 78 below.
69. See note 67 above.
70. No. I, II, and III of Practice.
71. Terkild Olsen, father of Regine Olsen.
72. See Corsair Affair, Historical Introduction, pp. xxi-xxii and Index entry “Kierkegaard, S. A.: trousers,” p. 318, KW XIII.
73. No. I and II of Practice.
74. Part Four of Christian Discourses, pp. 247–300, KW XVII (SV X 245–317).
75. Anti-Climacus.
76. See Practice, pp. 278–80, KW XX (Pap. X1 A 510) and Eighteen Discourses, note 3, pp. 503–05, KW V.
77. Sickness unto Death. On “for upbuilding,” see note 76 above.
78. Sickness unto Death (title page), KW XIX (SV XI 113) and Practice, pp. 5 (SV XII xiii), 283, 295–96, 309 (Pap. X1 A 520, X5 B 76, X1 A 251), KW XX.
79. Sickness Unto Death and Practice.
80. See Fear and Trembling, p. 121, KW VI (SV III 166).
81. P. 137 and note 11.
82. Practice in Christianity was eventually published September 25, 1850, under the pseudonym Anti-Climacus.
83. No. 3 of Practice.
84. Pap. IX B 68, together with Christian Discourses and Crisis, in Christian Discourses, KW XVII.
85. The reference is presumably to Part IV of Christian Discourses (See note 18 above). See Supplement, p. 193 (Pap. X1 A 351).
86. N. C. Møller, Kierkegaard’s favorite bookbinder. See H. P. Rohde, “Søren Kierkegaard som Bogsamler,” Auktionsprotokol over Søren Kierkegaards Bogsamling (Copenhagen: Royal Library, 1967), p. xxvi.
87. The Sickness unto Death or Practice in Christianity. Kierkegaard worked on both of the Anti-Climaus volumes during 1848. The journal entry is from September 1848.
88. Anti-Climacus was the pseudonym used.
89. Practice, Three Discourses at the Communion on Fridays, Armed Neutrality, and Point of View.
90. See pp. 129, 132–33, 134, 138–39.
91. This eventually became Part III of Practice in Christianity, by Anti-Climacus, published September 25, 1850.
92. See Supplement, pp. 178, 207–09 (Pap. X1 A 95, X2 A 66).
93. Anti-Climacus, pseudonymous author of Sickness Unto Death and Practice.
94. Cf., for example, Fear and Trembling, p. 121, KW VI (SV III 166).
95. See note 72 above.
96. See Supplement, p. 172 (Pap. IX A 390).
97. See JP VI 6429 (Pap. X1 A 497).
98. Terkild Olsen, Regine’s father, died the night of June 25–26, 1849.
99. For example, the Young Man and Constantin in Repetition, KW VI (SV III 171–264), and Quidam and Frater Taciturnus in Stages on Life’s Way, KW XI (SV VI).
100. Jakob Peter Mynster (1775–1854), Bishop of Sjælland.
101. See “The Moral,” Practice, pp. 67–68, KW XX (SV XII 64–65).
102. Here the name of the author of Postscript designates the book.
103. Thomas à Kempis, Om Christi Efterfølgelse, tr. Jens Albrecht Leonhard Holm (Copenhagen: 1848; ASKB 273); Of the Imitation of Christ, tr. anon. (New York: Appleton, 1896), p. 175.
104. See note 90 above.
105. “Poetic” in the sense that it is not accurately descriptive of the one who writes but is an ideal presentation. See, for example, Practice, pp. 293–95, KW XX (Pap. X2 A 184); JP VI 6497 (Pap. X2 A 45).
106. Johan Nicolai Madvig (1804–1886), Danish classical scholar and politician, at one time Minister of Church and Education, and Jakob Peter Mynster, Bishop of Sjælland.
107. Carl A. Reitzel (1789–1853), Copenhagen publisher and bookseller.
108. Terkild Olsen, father of Regine Olsen.
109. In Sickness unto Death.
110. See Supplement, pp. 172–73 (Pap. IX A 390).
111. See note 98 above.
112. The paper is not extant. See Supplement, p. 242 (Pap. X2 A 427).
113. See note 159 below.
114. See Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3.
115. Published May 16, 1843, about three months after Either/Or.
116. The Lily in the Field and the Bird of the Air, published May 14, 1849. The motto was not used.
117. See Supplement, p. 172 (Pap. IX A 390).
118. See Supplement, p. 235 (Pap. X5 B 144).
119. See Supplement, p. 234 (Pap. X5 B 143).
120. Cf. Supplement, pp. 271–72 (Pap. IX B 57, p. 348). The quoted clauses were omitted later.
121. See pp. 55–56.
122. Two Discourses at the Communion on Fridays, published August, 7, 1851. See Without Authority, pp. 165–66, KW XVIII (SV XII 267).
123. Pap. X5 B 208, which with changes became “The Accounting,” pp. 5–11 (SV XIII 493–99).
124. See note 122 above.
125. “The High Priest” — “The Tax Collector” — “The Woman Who Was a Sinner.” Three Discourses at the Communion on Fridays, published November 14, 1849.
126. See note 159 below; Historical Introduction, p. xix.
127. See Supplement, p. 230 (Pap. X2 A 215).
128. See note 159 below; Historical Introduction, p. xix.
129. Peder Ludvig Møller, “Et Besøg i Sorø,” Gæa (1846), pp. 144–87; Corsair Affair, Supplement, pp. 96–104, KW XIII.
130. See The Corsair, 269, November 14, 1845, col. 14; Corsair, Affair, p. 96, KW XIII.
131. To Kierkegaard, his confronting The Corsair was an ethical, social act of general benefit. He felt abandoned by the commoners on the streets, who after the incessant ridicule by The Corsair avoided or taunted him, and also by the literary-political elite, who although now relieved as objects of the Corsair’s attacks in turn gave Kierkegaard the silent treatment, criticized the action as rash, or called the whole thing a trifle not worth thinking about.
132. “Practice in Christianity,” “On My Work,” “Point of View,” and “Armed Neutrality.”
133. P. 137.
134. Presumably Peter Wilhelm Lund (1801–1880), brother of Johan Christian Lund and Henrik Ferdinand Lund (married to Kierkegaard’s sisters Nicoline Christine and Petrea Severine), paleontologist, natural scientist. Peter Lund returned to Brazil in January 1833.
135. Jakob Peter Mynster (1775–1854), from 1811 a pastor of Frue Church in Copenhagen and from September 9, 1834, Bishop of Sjælland. Mynster was a friend of the Michael P. Kierkegaard family, so that young Søren came to know him at home and throughout his life associated Mynster appreciatively with his father. Kierkegaard read Mynster’s writings regularly, just as he had heard Mynster’s sermons read aloud at home. In later years he visited Mynster periodically, although he became critical, and increasingly so, of Mynster’s cultural accommodation of Christianity but withheld open critique until after Mynster’s death. See, for example, JP V 5637, 5864, 5961; VI 6749 (Pap. IV A 71; VII1 B 75, A 221; X6 B 173).
136. Luther, “Sermon on the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity” (Luke 17:11–18); En christelig Postille, I-II, tr. Jørgen Thisted (Copenhagen: 1828; ASKB 283), I, p. 513.
137. Postscript, p. [626], KW XII. 1 (SV VII [546]).
138. See pp. 5–11.
139. Michael Pedersen Kierkegaard died on August 9, 1838.
140. See Luther, “Sermon on Fourth Sunday after Easter,” James 1:17–21; En christelig Postille, II, pp. 248–55; Church-Postil, II, 146–52.
141. James 1:17–21.
142. Practice.
143. See Luther, “Sermon on Fourth Sunday after Trinity,” Romans 8:18–23; En christelig Postille, II, pp. 339–49; Church-Postil, III, pp. 50–61.
144. See Romans 8:18–23.
145. September 8, 1840, the day of the proposal; Regine accepted the proposal on September 10.
146. See Matthew 6:24–34.
147. Regine Olsen. See note 159 below.
148. See note 145 above.
149. Matthew 6:24–34. See Supplement, p. 247 (Pap. X3 A 391).
150. A German hymn by Paul Gerhardt, “Befiel du deine Wege” no. 573 in Gesangbuch (Berlin: 1829; ASKB 205), translated into Danish by E. Stevensen, Roskilde-Konvents Psalmebog, 42 (Copenhagen: 1850; ASKB 198). The text in English (tr. Henry Mills, Evangelical Lutheran Hymnal, 411 [Columbus, Ohio: 1888]) reads:
1. Commit thy way, confiding,
When trials here arise,
To Him whose hand is guiding
The tumults of the skies.
There clouds and tempests, raging,
Have each their path assigned;
Will God, for thee engaging,
No way of safety find?
2. Trust in the Lord! His favor
Will for thy wants provide;
Regard His word!—and ever
Thy work shall safe abide.
When sorrows here o’ertake thee,
And self-inflicted care,
Let not thy God forsake thee!
He listens for thy prayer.
3. Should Satan league his forces,
God’s purpose to withstand
Think not their rage and curses
Can stay His lifted hand!
When He makes known His pleasure,
The counsel of His will,
That, in its utmost measure,
Will He at last fulfill.
4. Hope on then, weak believer,
Hope on, and falter not!
He will thy soul deliver
From deeps of troubled thought.
With hope thy heart employ,
Till faith and hope shall flourish
And yield their fruits of joy.
5. Well blest, His grace receiving,
God owns thee for a son!
With joy, and with thanksgiving,
Behold the victor’s crown!
Thy hand the palm-branch raises,—
God gives it thee to bear;—
Then sing aloud His praises.
Who has removed thy care.
6. The sorrows, Lord, that try us.
O bring them to an end!
With needed strength supply us!
Thy love to us commend!
That we, till death pursuing
Thy best, thy chosen way,
May then, our life renewing,
Praise Thee in endless day.
151. Hans Peter Kofoed-Hansen (1813–1893), curate at Frelsers Church, 1849–54, author of Dialoger og Skizzer (under the pseudonym Jean Pierre) and various other works for which Kierkegaard was the greatest single influence and at times the subject. He wrote perhaps the first penetrating review of a Kierkegaard work (Either/Or) in For Literatur og Kritik: Et Fjerdingsaarsskrift udgivet af Fyens Stifts literære Selskab, October 1843, I, 4, pp. 377–405.
152. Eventually published the following year, August 7, 1851.
153. Kierkegaard considered the possibility of a cryptic dedication to Regine. See Supplement, pp. 257–58 (Pap. X5 B 263, 264); the dedication to Two Discourses at the Communion on Fridays, in Without Authority, p. 163, KW XVIII (SV XII 265).
154. Published September 25, 1850.
155. Eggert C. Tryde (1781–1860), pastor, friend of Johan Ludvig Heiberg, and Royal Chaplain after 1854.
156. See Practice, pp. 233–36, KW XX (SV XII 213–16).
157. Peter’s words to Christ. See Luke 5:8.
158. See the dedication to Two Discourses at the Communion on Fridays, in Without Authority, p. 163, KW XVIII (SV XII 265). No dedication is used in “The Accounting.” Cf. JP VI 6332 (Pap. X5 A 153).
159. Regine Olsen (January 23, 1822-March 18, 1904), daughter of Terkild Olsen (1784–1849) and Regine Frederikke Olsen (1778–1856). Kierkegaard met Regine Olsen at T. S. Rørdam’s house in Frederiksberg just outside Copenhagen sometime between May 8 and May 16, 1837. On September 8, 1840, Kierkegaard proposed to her, and on September 10 she gave her acceptance. On October 11, 1841, the engagement was definitely terminated following Kierkegaard’s return of the engagement ring on August 8, 1841. The two main reasons for Kierkegaard’s breaking the engagement were: his love for Regine in the context of an awareness that he most likely would crush her and his sense of a life-task that would preoccupy him. The possibility of a renewal of a friendly relationship was always in Kierkegaard’s mind, but out of consideration for Regine and Johan Frederik Schlegel (to whom she became engaged in July 1843 and married November 3, 1847) he did not want to take the first step. The closest he came was a letter to Schlegel (November 19, 1849) accompanied by a letter (written and rewritten many times) to Regine after her father’s death (June 25–26, 1849). Schlegel returned unopened the letter addressed to Regine. See Letters, Letter 239, KW XXV.
160. See notes 158, 159 above.
161. Ibid.
162. Ibid.
163. Cf. “An Occasional Discourse,” Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits, pp. 26–27, KW XV (SV VIII 136).
164. See Supplement, p. 266 (Pap. X5 B 209).
165. Published May 14, 1849.
166. Two Upbuilding Discourses (1843), in Eighteen Discourses, p. 53, KW V (SV III 271).
167. “Discourses at the Communion on Fridays,” Part Four of Christian Discourses, pp. 247–300, KW XVII (SV X 245–317).
168. Christian Discourses, p. 249, KW XVII (SV X 251).
169. An allusion to Paul. See II Corinthians 12:7.
170. See p. 19 and note 44.
171. Ibid.
172. Two Ages: The Age of Revolution and the Present Age. A Literary Review, KW XIV (SV VIII 3–105).
173. JP VI 6663 (Pap. X6 B 93); Pap. X6 B 94–102. See note 8 above.
174. Sickness Unto Death and Practice.
175. Presumably pp. 91–95:12 (Epilogue), 95:13–97 (Conclusion).
176. See Two Discourses at the Communion on Fridays, pp. 165–66 (SV XII 267), and Supplement, p. 272, KW XVIII (Pap. IX B 63:14).
177. See note 33 above.
178. See p. 254.
179. See p. 2.
180. See pp. 118–19.
181. See Supplement, pp. 276–79 (Pap. IX B 64).
182. The preface was written for but not used in For Self-Examination, published September 10, 1851.
183. P. 12.
184. On My Work as an Author and Two Discourses at the Communion on Fridays, August 7, 1851.
185. See Luke 5:8–9.
186. See note 135 above.
187. See note 184 above.
188. The extended review of Thomasine Gyllembourg-Ehrensvaard’s Two Ages is the chief instance of Kierkegaard’s implementation of an idea for ceasing to be an author without ceasing to write (see JP V 5877; VI 6334 [Pap. VII1 A 9; X1 A 90]). His first book, From the Papers of One Still Living, a long review of Hans Christian Andersen’s Kun en Spillemand [Only a Fiddler] was of the same order, although prior to his idea formulated in Pap. VII1 A 9.
189. P. 19.
190. Michael Pedersen Kierkegaard died August 9, 1838.
191. See JP VI 6748, p. 396 (Pap. X6 B 171, p. 263 fn.).
192. See note 22 above.
193. Mynster praised Goldschmidt (see JP VI 6748, 6750, 6751 [Pap. X6 B 171, 188, 194]), founder and original editor of The Corsair, as “one of our most talented writers.” See J. P. Mynster, Yderligere Bidrag til Forhandlingerne om de kirkelige Forhold i Danmark (Copenhagen: 1851), p. 44.
194. See note 22 above.
195. See note 135 above.
196. Flyve-Posten, 215, September 16, 1851, p. 1, col. 3.
197. Postscript, pp. [625–30], KW XII. 1 (SV VII [545–49]).
198. P. 7
199. “Editor’s Preface,” Practice, p. 7, KW XX (SV XII xv).
200. See Two Ages, p. 107, KW XIV (SV VIII 99–100).
201. Cf. p. 12.
202. Cf. Either/Or, II, p. 159, KW IV (SV II 145).
203. Cf. Repetition, p. 149, KW VI (SV III 189).
204. See p. 12.
205. See Either/Or, II, p. 6, KW IV (SV II 6), loosely quoted.
206. See For Self-Examination, p. 86, KW XXI (SV XII 369).
207. See Supplement, pp. 231, 233 (Pap. X5 B 211, 222). The postscripts in Pap. X5 B 168 and 211 were not used in On My Work or Point of View.
208. Here nonreduplicated means “direct” as contrasted to indirect communication or the mode of double-reflection, as in the pseudonymous works, which are works of reflection intended to occasion a second reflection—the reader’s. For Kierkegaard, reduplication usually means “existing in what one understands.” But here “nonreduplicated” refers to a direct mode of written expression without the implication that the writer exemplifies the ideality delineated in the writing.
209. Practice in Christianity, which was eventually published September 25, 1850.
210. The three parts of Practice. See note 209 above.
211. See Supplement, p. 301 (Pap. X1 A 450).
212. See note 209 above.
213. Practice, III.