Kierkegaard - Either/Or, Part 1 (Princeton, 1987)

Søren Kierkegaard: Either/Or, Part 1. Vol. III of Kierkegaard's Writings, edited and translated, with introduction and notes, by Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton University Press, 1987.

ISBN 9780691073156 | 728 pages | PDF

Søren Kierkegaard, the nineteenth-century Danish philosopher rediscovered in the twentieth century, is a major influence in contemporary philosophy, religion, and literature. He regarded Either/Or as the beginning of his authorship, although he had published two earlier works on Hans Christian Andersen and irony. The pseudonymous volumes of Either/Or are the writings of a young man (I) and of Judge William (II). The ironical young man's papers include a collection of sardonic aphorisms; essays on Mozart, modern drama, and boredom; and "The Seducer's Diary." The seeming miscellany is a reflective presentation of aspects of the "either," the esthetic view of life.

Part II is an older friend's "or," the ethical life of integrated, authentic personhood, elaborated in discussions of personal becoming and of marriage. The resolution of the "either/or" is left to the reader, for there is no Part III until the appearance of Stages on Life's Way. The poetic-reflective creations of a master stylist and imaginative impersonator, the two men write in distinctive ways appropriate to their respective positions.

Kierkegaard's Writings is a definitive, systematically translated, scholarly edition of Søren Kierkegaard's works in English, comprising twenty-five volumes of text and a separate cumulative index. Each volume includes a historical introduction, selections from Kierkegaard's journals and provisional manuscripts, notes and an index.

Review

"The definitive edition of the Writings. The first volume . . . indicates the scholarly value of the entire series: an introduction setting the work in the context of Kierkegaard's development; a remarkably clear translation; and concluding sections of intelligent notes." -- Library Journal