Kierkegaard

by Stephen Backhouse

  76: “When I look at a goodly number”: JP 417 (I A 96 n.d. 1835).

  77: “Oh how unhappy I am”: JP 5225 (11 A 597 n.d. 1837).

  Chapter 5: Love Life

  79: “the devil of my wit”: JP 5219 (II A 67 May 8, 1837).

  79–80: Captivated: R. Schlegel, Encounters, 34.

  80: “angel with the flaming sword”: JP 5219 (II A 67 May 8, 1837).

  80: “… good God”: JP 5220 (II A 68 n.d., 1837).

  82: “compression of the spinal cord”: Johan Schioldann and Ib Søgaard, Søren Kierkegaard (1813–55): A Bicentennial Pathographical Review. History of Psychiatry 24 (4) 387–398.

  82–83: “When at times”: JP 5301 (II A 702 February 9, 1838).

  84: “It would be interesting”: JP 4400 (II A 163 September 20, 1837).

  84: “hackneyed proposition”: JP 2313 (II A 159 n.d., 1837).

  84: “Philosophy”: JP 3251 (II A 11 n.d., 1837).

  84: “Such a long period”: JP 5302 (II A 209 April, 1838).

  85: “To the late Professor Poul Martin Møller”: CA, 178 (V B 46, 1844).

  85–86: “There is an indescribable joy”: JP 5324 (II A 10:30 A. M. May 19, 1838).

  86: Pastor Kolthoff: Koltoff to Barfod, letter dated April 19, 1868. Quoted in Niels Jørgen Cappelørn “Søren Kierkegaard at Friday Communion in the Church of Our Lady”, International Kierkegaard Commentary Volume 10: Without Authority, ed. Robert Perkins (Macon: Mercer University Press, 2006), 263–64.

  86: “Father in Heaven”: JP 5328 (II A 231 July 9, 1838).

  86: “I am going to work”: JP 5329 (II A 232 July 9, 1838).

  86–87: “My father died on Wednesday”: JP 5335 (II A 243 August 11, 1838). 87: “insane”: PV, 79.

  88: “Now you will never get your theological degree”: Sibbern to S. Kierkegaard, JP 5769 (VI A 8 n.d., 1844–45).

  88: “If Father had lived”: JP 5769 (VI A 8 n.d., 1844–45).

  88: “as long as Father was alive”: S. Kierkegaard to Brøchner, Encounters, 228.

  89: “the longest parenthesis”: JP 5446 (III A 35 n.d., 1840).

  89: “I must bid farewell”: JP 5434 (II A 576 December 20, 1839).

  89: “Even before my father died”: JP 6472 (X5 A 149 n.d., 1849).

  89: “During all that time”: JP 6472 (X5 A 149 n.d., 1849).

  90: “You, sovereign queen of my heart”: JP 5368 (II A 347 February 2, 1839).

  90: “Here on the heath”: JP 2830 (III A 78 n.d., 1840).

  90: “I am so listless”: JP 5454 (III A 54 n.d., 1840).

  91: “determined to resolve the whole thing”: JP 6472 (X5 A 149 n.d., 1849).

  91: “O, what do I care about music”: JP 6472(X5 A 149 n.d., 1849).

  92: “struck completely speechless”: R. Schlegel, Encounters, 35.

  93: “I did not say one single word”: JP 6472 (X5 A 149 n.d., 1849).

  93: “You could have talked about Fritz”: S. Kierkegaard to R. Schlegel, Encounters, 35.

  93: “a profound, powerful soul”: Sibbern, Encounters, 215.

  94: “discord had already arisen”: Sibbern, Encounters, 213.

  95: Sermon assessment: Hannay, 138.

  97: “The exposition suffers … it would be fruitless to express a wish about this”: Madvig, Encounters, 30–31.

  97: “Despite the fact”: Ørsted, Encounters, 32.

  97: “For a dedication copy”: JP 5322 (II A 749 n.d., 1838).

  98: “Above all, forget”: SLW, 329–330.

  99: “feminine despair”: JP 6472 (X5 A 149 n.d., 1849).

  99: “In the name of Jesus Christ”: JP 6482 (X1 A 667 n.d., 1849).

  99: “I have to be cruel”: JP 6472 (X5 A 149 n.d., 1849).

  99: “scoundrel”: JP 6472 (X5 A 149 n.d., 1849).

  99: Jonas’ angry letter: Hannay, 158.

  99: “She fought … to have to be so cruel and to love as I did”: JP 6472 (X5 A 149 n.d., 1849).

  100: “The act … I beg you not to break with her”: JP 6472 (X5 A 149 n.d., 1849).

  101: “Will you never marry? … Promise to think of me”: JP 6472 (X5 A 149 n.d., 1849).

  102: “crying in my bed”: JP 6472 (X5 A 149 n.d., 1849).

  102: “If you do that”: JP 6472 (X5 A 149 n.d., 1849).

  102: “I was reminded of her”: JP 6472 (X5 A 149 n.d., 1849).

  102: “The few scattered days”: JP 6163 (IX A 67 n.d., 1848).

  Chapter 6: Writing Life

  103: “after which I decided to pay”: S. Kierkegaard, Garff, 208.

  104: “a particular nook”: S. Kierkegaard, Garff, 207.

  104: German waiters: Brøchner, Encounters, 230.

  104: “Søren Kierkegaard”: Smith, Encounters, 58.

  104: Doctors: See letters to Emil, JP 5548 (Letters, no. 62 January 16, 1842) and JP 5551 (Letters, no. 68 February 6, 1842).

  105: “Here, a groan”: JP 5548 (Letters, no. 62 January 16, 1842).

  106: “bears a striking resemblance”: JP 5542 (Letters, no. 54 December 14, 1841).

  106: “I am too old”: S. Kierkegaard, Hannay, 163.

  107: “Anonymity”: JP 5551(Letters, no. 68 February 6, 1842).

  107: “I am coming to Copenhagen”: JP 5552 (Letters, no. 69 February 27, 1842).

  107: “To produce was my life”: Joakim Garff, “To Produce was my Life: Problems, Perspectives Within the Kierkegaardian Biography” Kierkegaard Revisited, trans. Stacey Elizabeth Axe; eds. Niels Jørgen Cappelørn and Jon Stewart (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1997), 75 (X 1 A 442).

  108: “put everything into”: S. Kierkegaard, Garff, 314.

  108: Stand writing: Schiødte, quoting Anders, Encounters, 195.

  108: “I regard the whole city”: JP 5763 (VI B 225 n.d., 1844–45).

  108: “although I can be totally engrossed”: JP 5731 (V B 72:22 n.d., 1844).

  109: “He preferred”: Schiødte, Encounters, 194.

  109: “strike up conversations”: Brøchner, Encounters, 229–30.

  109: Coffee cups: Levin, Encounters, 208.

  110: “He comforted”: Brøchner, Encounters, 242.

  110: “He is so unspeakably loving”: H. P. Kierkegaard to Meidell, Encounters, 140.

  112: “strong attacks”: Spang, Garff, 460.

  112: “impractical and very self-absorbed”: H. Plough, recounting his father’s memories, Encounters, 56.

  112: “my little secretary”: JP 5688 (IV A 141 n.d., 1843).

  112: “I wager”: JP 5688 (IV A 141 n.d., 1843).

  115: “healthy, happy”: JP 5665 (Letters, no. 82 May 25, 1843).

  117: “a little hint”: JP 6388 (X1 A 266 n.d., 1849).

  117: “in order to clear her out”: JP 6388 (X1 A 266 n.d., 1849).

  118: “At vespers … she has faith in me”: JP 5653 (IV A 97 n.d., 1843).

  118: “Her eyes met mine”: JP 6472 (X5 A 149 n.d., 1849).

  118: “After her engagement”: JP 6472 (X5 A 149 n.d., 1849).

  118: “No doubt”: JP 6472 (X5 A 149 n.d., 1849).

  118–19: “If I had had faith”: JP 5664 (IV A 107 May 17, 1843).

  119: “But so my girl”: JP 5664 (IV A 107 May 17, 1843).

  119: “I have loved her … me to do it”: JP 5664 (IV A 107 May 17, 1843).

  120: “But if I were to have explained myself”: JP 5664 (IV A 107 May 17, 1843).

  120: “It is my own design”: JP 6472 (X.5 A 149).

  122: “The Grundtvigian nonsense”: JP 4121 (VIII1 A 245 n.d., 1847).

  123: “in a legal and literary sense … not mine”: CUP, 529.

  Chapter 7: Pirate Life

  127: “looming up”: Goldschmidt, Encounters, 69.

  127: “manned by courageous young men”: Corsaren, no. 1, cols 5–6 in Kierkegaard’s Journals and Notebooks: Volume 4: Journals NB-NB5 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011), note 7, 445.

  127: “six times four days”: COR, xi.

  128: “read to pieces”: Andersen, Garff, 379.

&n
bsp; 128: “With feelings”: Møller to Goldschmidt, Garff, 385.

  128: “You are not a riding instructor”: Goldschmidt, Encounters, 68.

  128: “comic composition”: Goldschmidt, Encounters, 67.

  129: “Which of your book’s characters … The Corsair is P. L. Møller”: Goldschmidt, Encounters, 71.

  130: “a bright fellow”: JP 588 (VII.1 A 99).

  130: “It was my desire”: JP 588 (VII.1 A 99).

  130: “irreparable harm”: TA, 74.

  130: “disgusting”: Heiberg, Garff, 218.

  131: “No, thank you”: JP 5944 (VII.1 A 158).

  131: Newspaper reviews: JP 2143 (VII.1 A 24).

  131: “will never die”: COR, ix.

  131: “To become immortal”: COR, xiv (VI B 192).

  133: “But to spin”: Møller “A Visit in Sorø”, COR, 102.

  133: “He satiates himself”: Møller “A Visit in Sorø”, COR, 100.

  134: “Would that I”: COR, 46.

  135: “Where the Spirit is”: COR, 46.

  135: “Kierkegaard pounced”: Goldschmidt, Encounters, 73.

  135: “Denmark’s greatest mind”: The Corsair, no. 276, January 2, 1846, COR, 110.

  136: “in order”: The Corsair, no. 27, January 9, 1846, COR, 114.

  136: “May I ask”: COR, 50.

  137: “walked past me”: Goldschmidt, Encounters, 75.

  138: “He [Søren] could reflect”: Brøchner, Encounters, 235.

  138: “Accustomed as we are now”: Goldschmidt, COR, xxxi.

  138: “In our time”: Troels-Lund, Encounters, 181–82.

  139: “Every kitchen boy”: JP 5887 (VII.1 A 98).

  139–140: “Once”: Troels-Lund, Encounters, 183–84.

  140: “Don’t be such a Søren Kierkegaard”: Brandes, Encounters, 97.

  140: “And so I am wasted”: COR, 229 (IX A 370).

  141: “What I as a public person”: JP 6906 (XI.1 A 484).

  142: “I am positive”: JP 5863 (VII.1 B 69).

  143: “But, no”: JP 5872 (VII.1 A 3).

  143: “When I gave her up”: JP 5961 (VII.1 A 221).

  143–44: “Humanly speaking”: JP 5961 (VII.1 A 221).

  Chapter 8: An Armed and Neutral Life

  145: Bishop forgot: Hannay, 390; Papers and Journals, 642 (XI2 A 219, 29 June 1855).

  145: “It is frequently said”: JP 6373 (X.1 A 187).

  146: “What Christendom needs”: JP 2642 (IX A 165 n.d., 1848).

  146: “the truth”: Hannay, 369 quoting IX A 302.

  146: “The judgment”: JP 2642 (IX A 165 n.d., 1848).

  146–47: “Report”: JP 5887 (VII1 A 98 March 9, 1846).

  147: “this existence”: JP 5887 (VII1 A 98 March 9, 1846).

  147: “If I only could”: JP 5887 (VII1 A 98 March 9, 1846).

  147–48: “When Bishop Mynster”: JP 5947 (VII 1 A 169 November 5, 1846).

  149: See JP 5937 (VII1 A 147 September 7, 1846).

  150: “And now that I”: JP 5894 (VII1 A 107 n.d., 1846).

  151: John the Baptist: Brøchner, Encounters, 234.

  152: “it is cruel”: JP 6049 (VIII 1 A 264 n.d.,1847).

  153: “An upbuilding discourse”: JP 640 (VIII1 A 293 n.d., 1847).

  153: Reprinted: Historical introduction, WL, xv.

  153: “I firmly decided”: JP 6310 (X1 A 42 n.d. 1849).

  153: King and Queen: JP 6310 (X1 A 42 n.d. 1849).

  153: Intended Reader: WL, xvi.

  154: “… it would have made me”: JP 6071 (VIII1 A 390 November 4, 1847).

  154: “Today I looked in”: JP 6071 (VIII1 A 390 November 4, 1847).

  155: “Then came the year 1848”: PC, xi quoting X6 B 249.

  155: “the People”: Bruce Kirmmse, Kierkegaard in Golden Age Denmark (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990), 66.

  156: “not to force the nation”: Roar Skovmand. De folkelig bevaegelser i Danmark (Copenhagen: Shultz, 1951), 24; Kirmmse Golden Age, 66.

  157: “They are blind”: JP 2960 (X4 A 93 n.d., 1851).

  157: “The single individual”: JP 2004 (VIII1 A 482 n.d., 1847).

  157: “Armed Neutrality”: PV, 138–39.

  158: “attack upon Christendom”: Papers and Journals, 395 (X1 A 533, 1849).

  158: “An Attempt”: JP 6271 N.B. (IX A 390 n.d., 1848).

  159: “I would place myself”: JP 6433 (X1 A 517 n.d., 1849).

  159: “I was so happy”: JP 6247 (IX A 262 n.d., 1848).

  159: “I safely dare”: JP 6247 (IX A 262 n.d., 1848).

  159: “I do not wish”: JP 6247 (IX A 262 n.d., 1848).

  159: “We all weep”: JP 6536 (X2 A 205 n.d., 1849).

  160: “… Marry I could not”: JP 6537 (Letters, no. 239).

  160: “The enclosed letter”: JP 6537 (Letters, no. 239).

  160: “I then received”: JP 6537 (Letters, no. 239).

  161: “Now the matter”: JP 6538 (X.2 A 210).

  161: Peter protested: JP 6559 (X6 B 131 n.d., 1849).

  161–62: “I myself have”: JP 6560 (Letters, no. 240 December, 1849).

  162: “All existence is disintegrating”: JP 6448 (X1 A 553 n.d., 1849). 162: “Strangely enough”: JP 6449 (X1 A 556 n.d., 1849).

  162–63: “Without a doubt … the work is itself a judgment”: JP 6501 (X2 A 66 n.d., 1849).

  163: “To me it became clear”: M, 70 (Fatherland 112, May 16, 1855).

  164: “So I was obliged”: JP 6800 (X.4 A 540).

  165: “habitual Christianity”: COR, 52.

  165–66: “There is nothing”: COR, 54.

  166: “I have worked”: COR, 56.

  166: Regine looks around: JP 6800 (X.4 A 540).

  166: “The Possible Collision”: JP 6795 (X4 A 511 n.d., 1852).

  168: “So let us now”: Hans Lassen Martensen, Leilighedstaler. (Prædiken holdt i Christiansborg Slotskirke, paa 5te Søndag efter Hellig-Tre Konger, Søndagen før Biskop Dr. Mynster’s Jordefærd). [Special Occasion Talks. (Sermon held in Christiansborg palace chapel … the Sunday before Bishop Dr. Mynster’s funeral)] (Kjøbenhavn, 1884), 20.

  Chapter 9: A Life Concluded

  169: “I have so little desire … leaving the room”: Troels-Lund, Encounters, 184–86.

  171: “Now he is dead”: JP 6853 (XI.1 A 1 March 1, 1854).

  171–72: “A modern clergyman”: JP 6860 (A 69 n.d., 1854).

  172–73: “The matter is quite simple”: JP 2872 (X3 A 34 n.d., 1850).

  173: “Christianity in repose”: JP 2731 (XI1 A 345 n.d., 1854).

  174: “an unusual kind of poet”: See the preface to Two Discourses at the Communion on Fridays.

  174: “All modern Christendom”: JP VI 6466 (X1 A 617).

  174: “Corrective”: Hannay, 406.

  174: “After all”: JP 6840 (X5 A 105 March 28, 1853).

  175: “you can be sure”: JP 6862 (XI1 A 72 n.d., 1854).

  176: “To this I must raise an objection … an untruth that cries to heaven”: M, 3–8.

  177: “catastrophe”: JP 615 (XI2 A 263 n.d., 1854).

  178: “What Cruel Punishment”: M, 56.

  178: “This must be said”: M, 74.

  178–79: “Naturally”: Rørdam, Encounters, 102.

  179: “The little war”: Ingemann, Encounters, 103.

  179: “arrogance and ingratitude”: Sibbern, Encounters, 103.

  179: “blasphemer”: Grundtvig in Hannay, 408.

  179: “It has also been”: Hansen, Encounters, 106.

  179: “Do I understand it”: Rosted, Encounters, 110.

  179: “You common man”: M, 346.

  180: “this new Reformer”: Goldschmidt, North and South. Sept. 15, 1855.

  180: “What Do I Want”: M, 49.

  180–81: “God bless you”: R. Schlegel to Meyer, Encounters, 42.

  181: “That Bishop Martensen’s silence”: M, 79.

  181: “circulation”: Garff, 753.

  182: “In the splendid cathedral �
�� Is this the same teaching … One cannot live”: M, 203–5.

  183: “With the greatest clarity”: Brøchner, Encounters, 248.

  183: “But what, specifically”: JP 6969 (XI2 A 439 September 25, 1855).

  184: “Oh, let me lie”: Levin, Encounters, 210.

  184: “Mynster wing”: Garff, 783.

  184: “The doctors … share my joy with anyone”: Boesen, Encounters, 121–28.

  185: “I have enough”: Troels-Lund, Encounters, 186.

  185–86: Victory: Lund, Encounters, 172.

  186: “Just straighten … a playful smile”: Troels-Lund, Encounters, 190.

  186: “Brother stopped by debate … person who did it also had to pay for it”: Boesen, Encounters, 125–26.

  Chapter 10: A Life Continued

  190: “There is a man”: Andrew Hamilton, Sixteen Months in the Danish Isles. London: Bentley, 1852, 269 in George Pattison, “Great Britain: From ‘Prophet of the Now’ to Postmodern Ironist (and after)”, Kierkegaard’s International Reception: Tome 1 Northern and Western Europe, ed. Jon Stewart (Burlington: Ashgate, 2009), 237.

  190: “a great quantity of paper”: Lund, in Kierkegaard’s Journals and Notebooks Vol 1, eds. N. J. Cappelørn, et al. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), vii.

  192: “colossal and clandestine”: Barford, Written Images: Søren Kierkegaard’s Journals, Notebooks, Booklets, Sheets, Scraps, and Slips of Paper, eds. Niels Jørgen Cappelørn, Joakim Garff, and Johnny Kondru (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003), 56.

  193: “Martensen answering Søren at last”: The insight is George Pattison’s. “Great Britain: From ‘Prophet of the Now’ to Postmodern Ironist (and after)”, Kierkegaard’s International Reception: Tome 1 Northern and Western Europe, ed. Jon Stewart (Burlington: Ashgate, 2009), 239; On early reception of Martensen see also Stephen Backhouse “State and Nation, the Theology of H.L. Martensen,” Hans Lassen Martensen: Theologian, Philosopher and Social Critic, ed. Jon Stewart (Copenhagen: Tusculanum Press: 2012).

  195: “Oh, that he could ever forgive me”: Regine to Meyer, Encounters, 41.

  195: “religiously serious”: Regine to Neiiendam, Encounters, 54.

  196: “If I have a system”: Karl Barth, Epistle to the Romans (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968), 10.

  196: “Then I read Kierkegaard”: Marcio Gimenes de Paula “Hannah Arendt,” Kierkegaard’s Influence on Social-Political Thought, ed. Jon Stewart (Burlington: Ashgate, 2011), 32.