Early Polemical Writings

Kierkegaard's Writings #1

by Søren Kierkegaard, Julia Watkin (Translator)

Early Polemical Writings covers the young Kierkegaard's works from 1834 through 1838. His authorship begins, as it was destined to end, with polemic. Kierkegaard's first published article touches on the theme of women's emancipation, and the other articles from his student years deal with freedom of the press.

Modern readers can see the seeds of Kierkegaard's future career these early pieces. In "From the Papers of One Still Living," his review of Hans Christian Andersen's novel Only a Fiddler, Kierkegaard rejects the notion that environment is decisive in determining the fate of genius. He also puts forward his belief that each person needs a life-view or life for which and by which to live, a thought he explores further in the comic play The Battle between the Old and the New Soap-Cellars.

Genres: Philosophy

352 pages, Paperback

First published September 7, 1838

About the author

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was a prolific 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian. Kierkegaard strongly criticised both the Hegelianism of his time and what he saw as the empty formalities of the Church of Denmark. Much of his work deals with religious themes such as faith in God, the institution of the Christian Church, Christian ethics and theology, and the emotions and feelings of individuals when faced with life choices. His early work was written under various pseudonyms who present their own distinctive viewpoints in a complex dialogue.

Kierkegaard left the task of discovering the meaning of his works to the reader, because "the task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the noble-hearted". Scholars have interpreted Kierkegaard variously as an existentialist, neo-orthodoxist, postmodernist, humanist, and individualist.

Crossing the boundaries of philosophy, theology, psychology, and literature, he is an influential figure in contemporary thought.

Reviews

[Alyosha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Necessary to mark the inception, and thus the "completion," of Kierkegaard's Writings, this volume (for it is not a "work") holds little more value beyond this framing function. There is a reason why Kierkegaard did not consider these early writings as part of his "authorship" - and otherwise than the academic limitations of The Concept of Irony - for they are petits riens adding up to little more than minute journalistic squabbles ("polemical" is too strong a word here, suggesting far too strong a sense of investment), a mediocre (at best) review of Hans Christian Anderson based on a purely external and entirely subjective evaluative schema (which the editor is at pains to relate to Kierkegaard's later, rich thoughts concerning existence), and fragmentary scraps for a dramatic work which falls vastly short (even without taking into consideration its fragmentary and unfinished state) of working dramatically or poetically. Not to mention that nearly half of the volume is not even of Kierkegaard's writings, but rather "background material," i.e. journal articles which responded to Kierkegaard and to which he responded, but which have little to no further interest or value to those not interested in the history of Danish journalism from the nineteenth century. Those with a nascent interest in Kierkegaard are better off beginning with The Concept of Irony, which provides much more material for which to continue to consider in undertaking the journey through the astounding and fruitful writings of Kierkegaard.

[John Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of these essays are more interesting if you care about the historical context. If you don't care about the historical context, then they are interesting mainly only if you're a huge Kierkegaard fan and want to see the progression of thought and skill.

Perhaps the only essay that can stand alone, aside from context, is the review of Hans Christian Anderson's then recent novel. For those who know S.K., you can certainly see the beginnings of the rest of his writing career. If you don't know S.K., it is perhaps a fun introduction because who doesn't like some Hans Christian Anderson? Well, S.K. had his issues, even though he clearly liked reading Anderson.

[Adam Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of Kierkegaard's earliest writings, which means that these are not terribly polished works. Kierkegaard himself did not consider his writing career to begin until "Either/Or" which appeared later than these. As the title suggests, many of these short pieces are written against individuals and ideologies. It also contains the only play he ever attempted, although it is left unfinished. Still, the book is useful to see some of the themes Kierkegaard is known for before he fully develops them in later works.

[Onno · Rating 4 out of 5]

'From the papers of one still living' interessante bespreking van roman van Andersen

[Joe Olipo · Rating 2 out of 5]

"We are in the 'peat formation period' - Quite right! At least, the formation of granite is already long past, the formation of sedimentary rock done with, and for a good while we have presumably been deeply absorbed in the formation of peat."

"I certainly know that it goes with states as it does with individual people, and that an individual who has never been any good at anything is always in a terrible hurry to rush into the future and never dares to look back for fear that the abomination of desolation lying behind him will turn him to stone"
[...] and it has, of course, become almost a Sprichwort [saying] to become "religious" when one cannot make good in the world.
[...] just as in England one sells one's corpse to the dissecting room, in the same way here one will sell one's body to be used as [an] editor
[...] "[the] so-called Bernhardian short novel"

"if what [he] contributed up to [this] point [is] not rather to be regarded as a little early parsley for the strong soup of which there is still only talk-"

[jeremiah]

This is Kierkegaard's writings from his university days. Lots of odds and ends, some not particularly enlightening, unless one has an understanding of the Golden Age of Denmark literary scene. The first article in this volume is Kierkegaard lambasting the emancipation of women "ironically" (oof) and the last text is his unfinished play, "The Battle Between the Old and New Soap-Cellars," in which one character, a fly, is said to have landed on the late Hegel's nose a few times when he was writing the Phenomenology.

The most important piece of writing here, in my opinion, is Kierkegaard's first "book": From the Papers of One Still Living. Through his critique of Hans Christian Andersen's novel "Only a Fiddler," Kierkegaard articulates the idea of the "life-view" (Liv-Anskuelse), i.e., a singular understanding of one's existence. The authentic poetic novel writer (Romandigter) is to develop a life-view and "transubstantiate" it into his or her work. Exactly how, Kierkegaard doesn't say; however, Andersen, according to Kierkegaard, doesn't have such a life-view, therefore his text lacks a unifying view of the world. The structure of this early work mirrors the A/B structure of Either/Or, among others, in the respect that the preface is written by "The Publisher" who is the "alter ego" of the writer of the review, "S. Kjerkegaard." Though there isn't too much evidence to support this view, there's speculation that "Kjerkegaard" is meant to be read as a pseudonym. However, according to some biographical sources (which I'm not allowed access to :/ ) cited by the eminent scholars, Kierkegaard occasionally spelled his name this way, for whatever reason. Regardless, Papers is a crucial text because the ideas of the life-view and the poetic novel writer inform our understanding of the pseudonymous authorship. Please read it, and Julia Watkin's invaluable introduction.

[Kelly Head · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only for diehard fans. The play was semi-funny.