KIERKEGAARD, SORENBiblio.com
KIERKEGAARD, SORENBiblio.com
Enten – Eller. Et Livs=Fragment udgivet af Victor Eremita. Anden Udgave. Første Deel indeholdende A.’s Papirer Anden Deel indeholdende B.’s Papirer Breve til A.
1849rif. 63142Kjøbenhavn Reitzel 1849. 8vo. In contemporary half calf. Spine with wear and scratches. Back hinge partly split. Previous owner's name "P. O. Bugge / 1852". First and last leaves slightly browned otherwise internally nice and clean. XIV 2 320; 4 250 pp final blank. Second edition of Kierkegaard’s Either-Or his magnum opus widely regarded as a foundational work of existentialism and among the most celebrated writings of the greatest Scandinavian philosopher. Kierkegaard is “now generally considered to be however eccentric one of the most important Christian philosophers” PMM 314. Kierkegaard's monumental magnum opus seminally influenced later as well as contemporary philosophy and ranks as one of the most important works of philosophy of modern times. Either-Or is the earliest of Kierkegaard’s major works and the work with which he begins his pseudonymous authorship. Kierkegaard’s pseudonymity is an entire subject unto its own. The various cover names he uses play a significant role in his way of communicating and are essential to the understanding of his philosophical and religious messages. And it all properly begins here with his groundbreaking magnum opus. Conjuring up two distinctive figures with diverging beliefs and modes of life – the aesthetic “A” of Part One and the ethical B note that this is the first “pseudonym” that Kierkegaard uses in his earliest articles – no. I above/Judge Vilhelm of Part Two Kierkegaard presents us with the most basic reflections on the search for a meaningful existence seen from two completely different philosophical views. This masterpiece of duality explores the foundational conflict between the ethical and the aesthetical providing us along the way with the now so famous contemplations on music Mozart drama boredom pleasures virtues and probably most famously seduction and rejection – The Seducer’s Diary. It is primarily Judge Vilhelm from Part Two of Either-Or that has bestowed upon Kierkegaard the reputation as the Father of Existentialism. His emphasis on taking ownership of oneself and the importance of making choices has made him the first personification of Existentialism and the idea that one does not passively develop into the self that he or she should be or ought to become. Kierkegaard went to great lengths to ensure that the public would not know the identity of the author was of Either-Or. He even had the draft of the work done by several hands so that employees at the printer’s would also be deceived. Despite his efforts however it did not take long for the public to guess that Kierkegaard had written this astounding work. But Kierkegaard himself kept up the façade and did not accept authorship until several years later. Nothing Kierkegaard did was left to chance which his carefully chosen pseudonyms also reflect. This also spills over in his presentation-inscriptions which follow as strict a pattern as the pseudonyms themselves – he never signed himself the author if his Christian name was not listed as the author on the title-page. And seeing that he had not accepted authorship of Either-Or and is not mentioned by name anywhere on the title-page also not as the editor nor publisher as with the other pseudonymous works he was not able to give away copies of his magnum opus which is why no presentation-copy of the first edition exists. The appearance of the second edition of this monumental work was naturally carefully planned. Either-Or first appeared in 1843 and due to the great demand for the work which had originally only been printed in ca 525 copies it had quickly been sold out; but Kierkegaard refused to have it reprinted. In 1849 finally he decided to let it appear again in a textually unchanged version. When the second edition appeared recte second issue Kierkegaard had meanwhile owned up to the authorship of Either-Or. He had done so in 1846 in his Concluding Unscientific Postscript to The Philosophical Fragments own translation: “For the sake of manners and etiquette I hereby acknowledge what can hardly in reality be of interest to anybody to know that I am as one says the author of Either-Or Victor Eremita Copenhagen in February 1843.”. Now finally Kierkegaard could give away his magnum opus! In his Papers from 1849 Kierkegaard states own translation: “The poets here at home each received a copy of Either-Or. I thought it my duty; and now I was able to do it; because now one cannot reasonably claim that a conspiracy is made concerning the book. -because the book is now old and its crisis over. Of course they were given the copy from Victor Eremita.” Pap. X1A 402. Naturally because “as little as I in Either-Or is the Seductor or the Assessor as little am I the publisher Victor Eremita exactly as little; he is a poetically-real subjective thinker as he is also found in “in vino veritas.” “ the postscript to the Postscript 1846 Either-Or is now not only the title of Kierkegaard’s most famous and widely read work it is also a phrase that summarizes much of the thinking for which he is best known and a cornerstone of what we now characterize as Existentialism. The first edition caused a sensation. The second issue termed “edition” although it is textually unaltered is not only the first edition of the work to appear after Kierkegaard had acknowledged authorship of it and thus also confirmed being one and the same with his most famous pseudonym it is also the first of Kierkegaard’s works to appear in a second edition or issue. The second edition of the work is thus also of the utmost importance and is one of the only important second editions of any of Kierkegaard’s works. PMM: 314 Himmelstrup 21 unknown
