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Apotheosis of actuality: Kierkegaard’s poetic life

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Abstract

By way of an interaction with Kierkegaard’s Point of View, this paper attempts to show the extent to which Kierkegaard’s Repetition was a poetic repetition of his own life. By comparing several of his published texts with journal entries and letters to friends, this paper traces the extent and degree of Kierkegaard’s poetic reflection and corresponding lack of existential immediacy. At its most extreme, this paper argues that Kierkegaard did not really exist in the typical sense of the term; or, more precisely, that he only existed as a poetic repetition, an apotheosized ideal. Kierkegaard lived only insofar as he wrote himself into poetry.

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Notes

  1. On the benefits and limitations to a ‘biographical reading’ of Kierkegaard’s oeuvre, see Gouwens (1996). The reading offered here shall differ somewhat from such a biographical reading in ways that will soon become clear.

  2. This text was published posthumously.

  3. Kierkegaard (1998, p. 53).

  4. Ibid., p. xiv.

  5. See Pedersen (1973, p. 946).

  6. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition (2000).

  7. Kierkegaard (1996, p. 157).

  8. Ibid., p. 157.

  9. Kierkegaard (1998, p. 33).

  10. Ibid., p. 33.

  11. Kierkegaard (1992, p. 627). See also Taylor (1975).

  12. As Bertel Pedersen wrote: “We should hardly read Kierkegaard himself less ironically than we do his pseudonyms.” See Pederson (1974, p. 940). See especially pp. 946, 950.

  13. Kierkegaard (1992, p. 626).

  14. Kierkegaard (1998, p. 94).

  15. See Pedersen (1974, p. 950).

  16. Kierkegaard (1992, p. 626).

  17. Ibid., p. 625.

  18. Kierkegaard (1983, p. 154).

  19. Ibid., p. 154.

  20. Ibid., p. 155.

  21. Kierkegaard (1998, p. 77).

  22. Kierkegaard (1978, p. 57).

  23. Kierkegaard (1998, p. 77).

  24. Kierkegaard (1978, p. 57).

  25. Kierkegaard (1998, p. 30).

  26. Ibid., p. 77.

  27. Ibid., p. 83 (my emphasis).

  28. Kierkegaard (1983, p. 136).

  29. Ibid., p. 154.

  30. Kierkegaard (1998, p. 83). See also Kierkegaard (1978, p. 127).

  31. Kierkegaard (1978, p. 115; see also p. 140).

  32. Ibid., p. 115.

  33. Kierkegaard (1998, p. 83).

  34. Kirmmse (1996, p. 1).

  35. Kierkegaard (1996, p. 138).

  36. Ibid., p. 145.

  37. Ibid., p. 146.

  38. Ibid., p. 147.

  39. Kierkegaard (1992, p. 625). See also Pendersen (1974).

  40. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition (2000).

  41. Kierkegaard (1983, p. 131).

  42. Ibid., p. 131.

  43. Hong argues in the historical introduction to Repetition that Kierkegaard’s works cannot simply be said to be autobiographical, and that one must not let considerations of the author’s life divert one’s attention from the author’s thought (xi). However, here we are letting the author’s life divert us to the author’s thought, and in such a way as to obfuscate the difference between the two. Such diversions can take place only if there is a radical and demonstrable difference between Kierkegaard’s life and his poetic works—a difference which is here being called into question.

  44. Kierkegaard (1983, p. 137).

  45. Ibid., p. 136.

  46. Ibid., p. 138.

  47. Ibid., p. 138.

  48. Kierkegaard (1998, p. 84).

  49. In respect of a claim made by Kierkegaard we must use about in its narrow sense, meaning in the vicinity of or around. In a letter to Emil, Kierkegaard claims that he never turned Regine into a poetic subject (Kierkegaard 1978, p. 93). Strictly speaking this is true: She is always a phantasmal secondary character, never amplified or mentioned by name. She is always poeticized around, as though the poetry dances around her without every actually touching her. Even in his letters Kierkegaard failingly refers to Regine as ‘her’ or ‘she,’ or sometimes ‘she whose name I will not mention’ (Kierkegaard 1978, p. 90, p. 102). She is an unaccredited supporting actor.

  50. Kierkegaard (1983, p. 138).

  51. Ibid., p. 137.

  52. Ibid., p. 168.

  53. Ibid., p. 170.

  54. Ibid., p. 154.

  55. Ibid., p. 157.

  56. Ibid., p. 156.

  57. Ibid., p. 172: “Indeed, it seemed as if I were that young man myself…”.

  58. Ibid., p. 161.

  59. Ibid., p. 162.

  60. Ibid., p. 163.

  61. Ibid., p. 161.

  62. Ibid., p. 169.

  63. Ibid., p. 151.

  64. Ibid., p. 152.

  65. Kierkegaard (1996, p. 124).

  66. Ibid., p. 125.

  67. Kierkegaard (1983, p. 131).

  68. Ibid., p. 137.

  69. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition (2000).

  70. Kierkegaard (1983, p. 186).

  71. Kierkegaard (1978, p. 33).

  72. Ibid., p. 155.

  73. On possible limits to this claim, see Norris (1983b, p. 87). See also Gouwens (1996, p. 7).

  74. Or, if we follow Niels Eriksen’s interpretation that Constantin and the young poet are the same person, then Constantin is performing precisely the same act as Kierkegaard: He is reflecting back upon his past in the form of a memoir (Eriksen, 2000, pp. 30–31). The difference would be, however, that Kierkegaard succeeds where Constantin fails, enacting a repetition in the pages of Repetition.

  75. Kierkegaard (1983, p. 222).

  76. For an interesting look into the penitent element to the aesthetic works viz. Point of View see Norris (1983, especially pp. 94–95).

  77. Kierkegaard (1998, p. 82).

  78. Ibid., p. 84.

  79. Ibid., p. 85.

  80. Kierkegaard (1985, p. 172).

  81. Kierkegaard (1983, p. 143).

  82. Cf. Kierkegaard (1978, p. 72): “…my real life is not in the external and visible world but deep down in the secret chambers of my soul…hence I know nothing with which to compare myself but a merman…”.

  83. Kierkegaard (1983, p. 173).

  84. Kierkegaard (1978, p. 114).

  85. Pedersen, too, draws this comparison, but for slightly different reasons. See Pedersen (1974, p. 946).

  86. Kierkegaard (1998, p. 61).

  87. Cappelørn (2003, p. 134).

  88. Kierkegaard suffered from insomnia while in Berlin (Kierkegaard 1978, p. 134). See also (Kierkegaard 1983, p. 152 and p. 168).

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  1. Philosophy Department, Boston College, 21 Campanella Way, Chestnut Hill, MA, 02467, USA

    S. Montgomery Ewegen

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Montgomery Ewegen, S. Apotheosis of actuality: Kierkegaard’s poetic life. Cont Philos Rev 43, 509–523 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11007-010-9155-4

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