A Short Life of Kierkegaard. Paperback - 1970

Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press, 1970. Paperback First Edition Thus [1970], Tenth Printing [1990]. Near Fine in Wraps: shows only the most minute indications of use: just a hint of rubbing; the peach-toned background field of the backstrip is lightly sunned, but the titles thereon remain bold and clearly legible; a couple of faint smudges at the top edge. The binding is square and secure; the text is clean. No longer pristine, but remains structurally sound and tightly bound, showing few flaws and very little wear: very close to 'As New'. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. 271pp. First Edition Thus [1970], Tenth Printing [1990]. University Press Paperback. Walter Lowrie is the translator of most of Kierkegaard's works into English, and also the author of a fuller, much more detailed life of Kierkegaard in two Volumes [Vol. I: Childhood, Youth, Early Manhood. / Vol. II: Intellectual Maturity, Becoming a Christian, The Corrective-The Sacrifice]. He wrote in the Preface to this book, first published in 1942, "The Princeton University Press about eight months ago asked me to write 'a relatively short' life of Kierkegaard... it seemed to me strange for one man to write two biographies of the same person... This book is barely a quarter the size of the 'Kierkegaard' which was published by the Oxford University Press in 1938... This little book, simply a biography, may perhaps be more lucid than the other, in which it was sometimes difficult to see the forest for the trees." In this smaller, more pointed volume, he deals with the symbolism in Either / Or and its relation to Kierkegaard's broken-off engagement with Regina Olsen: "Here S.K. in a book which was meant for Regina explains his own case, and yet disguises it by assigning to a woman the role which he had played. He stresses the fact that Antigone cannot divulge the secret which would bring shame upon her father's memory, and that therefore she cannot marry him, for she will not enter into a marriage which is not perfectly open-hearted. The grim secret is her undoing." Later, he notes, "It does not seem possible that Regina could have been happy as his wife, though it is clear enough that as the wife and widow of another man she continued to love and admire him." Lowrie notes, "During this period entries in the Journal are few and brief, but they indicate clearly enough that in April S.K. had fallen very low. They indicate frequent drunkenness and frequent thoughts of suicide." He adds, "There is general agreement in placing the sexual fall [i.e., dalliance with a prostitute] in the month of May... If we had no evidence of a sexual fall, we should have to invent it, since it had the gravest consequences for his subsequent life and, as we shall see, he we often tormented by the question whether he ought to confess it publicly." Of Kierkegaard's referring to his own "thorn in the flesh," Lowrie says, "What S.K. meant by his thorn we cannot discover more precisely than we can in the case of St. Paul. Both of them were humiliating physical disabilities... he tells us that he consulted a physician to learn if it might be removed, and at a later period he asked himself whether he ought not to 'draw it out.' In this small book it would not be appropriate to delve deeper into a mystery which has not yet been solved." When on his death bed he was asked whether he desired Communion, he said, "'Yes, but not from a parson.' Then it would be difficult to do it. 'Then I shall die without it.' That is not right. 'I will not dispute about it. I have made my choice. The parsons are royal functionaries, and royal functionaries are not related to Christianity.'" Lowrie has a great deal of sympathy and insight into Kierkegaard; this book will be of immense benefit to anyone seeking to know more about Kierkegaard.