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Søren Kierkegaard
- GenresDanish
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 12, 2022
Rohde's biography is short but illustrative and excels in building an accurate picture of 19th century Copenhagen. It's easy to read but has a large bias towards Kierkegaard (K) since it's a biography. Though this is natural, it glorifies all of his actions and elevates him to a higher level than his peers without any criticism of some very questionable actions. Includes pictures of relevant people which is always a plus.
K was clearly a very intellectual person who was capable of great logic. His challenge of Hegel's philosophy at the time (with such a simple axiom) is even more impressive. That's why it surprises me that his character & actions seem to lack common sense. He marries a young girl then is surprised she isn't as mature and can't understand his problems. He can't be emotionally vulnerable and says he'd be really happy with her but somehow uses this to justify breaking up with her. This causes him to sink into depression and devote the rest of his life to writing. His philosophy is built upon existence not being able to be confined to a system of thought but then spends all his time writing and thinking rather than doing. He writes about how great revolution is then complains when it actually appears. Disappointing because I reckon, if it weren't for his mental issues & him constantly choosing the option that isolated + upset him, he could've been another level of thinker.
K was clearly a very intellectual person who was capable of great logic. His challenge of Hegel's philosophy at the time (with such a simple axiom) is even more impressive. That's why it surprises me that his character & actions seem to lack common sense. He marries a young girl then is surprised she isn't as mature and can't understand his problems. He can't be emotionally vulnerable and says he'd be really happy with her but somehow uses this to justify breaking up with her. This causes him to sink into depression and devote the rest of his life to writing. His philosophy is built upon existence not being able to be confined to a system of thought but then spends all his time writing and thinking rather than doing. He writes about how great revolution is then complains when it actually appears. Disappointing because I reckon, if it weren't for his mental issues & him constantly choosing the option that isolated + upset him, he could've been another level of thinker.
August 24, 2017
I read this in the German translation and maybe that is part of the reason why my rating is so low. I found the German rather cumbersome, dated and hard to read.
While the idea of structuring a biography of Kierkegaard around the people that influenced him is in theory not bad, I feel that the author mostly failed in the execution. The dates jump a lot, making it sometimes difficult to keep track of the chronological order, and he makes it seem like everything Kierkegaard wrote was a pure response to his personal circumstances. Furthermore, Rohde does not do a very good job in explaining and contextualizing Kierkegaard's thoughts, and, what's more, one gets the feeling that he does not like Kierkegaard very much as a person, which in turn reduces the reader's sympathy for Kierkegaard's dilemmas.
It is still a somewhat interesting and insightful work, and it is noteworthy that the author goes to great lengths to describe the Danish culture and society of the time, but there must be better biographies of Kierkegaard out there.
While the idea of structuring a biography of Kierkegaard around the people that influenced him is in theory not bad, I feel that the author mostly failed in the execution. The dates jump a lot, making it sometimes difficult to keep track of the chronological order, and he makes it seem like everything Kierkegaard wrote was a pure response to his personal circumstances. Furthermore, Rohde does not do a very good job in explaining and contextualizing Kierkegaard's thoughts, and, what's more, one gets the feeling that he does not like Kierkegaard very much as a person, which in turn reduces the reader's sympathy for Kierkegaard's dilemmas.
It is still a somewhat interesting and insightful work, and it is noteworthy that the author goes to great lengths to describe the Danish culture and society of the time, but there must be better biographies of Kierkegaard out there.
July 23, 2019
I read the English translation (London,1963). It is a nice brief book about Kierkegaard. It could have been better, but given that it is very short, it is quite OK
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews