An intellectual biography of Denmark's second-most famous
melancholic. Hannay (Philosophy/Univ. of Oslo) has produced several
works on Kierkegaard, one of the 19th century's most iconoclastic
thinkers, and he has translated many of Kierkegaard's books into
English. Here he applies his formidable knowledge of the
philosopher's work to the task of grounding it in the minutiae of
the man's life. From the outset Hannay admits that many will
dispute the relevance of his project, and those who believe that
the story of an author's life sheds no light on the meaning of his
works will find little to savor here. Those of other theoretical
persuasions will be richly rewarded, however. Moving
chronologically through Kierkegaard's life with somewhat
breathtaking familiarity, the author deftly isolates the influences
that specific events had on his thinking. Most interestingly, the
Danish-speaking Hannay is able to situate Kierkegaard in his
Copenhagen milieu, revealing local, often petty battles where
others have seen earthshaking disputes with Great European
Thinkers. The problem with Hannay's approach, however, is that in
the end not terribly much "happened" to Kierkegaard. Apart from the
well-known jilting of his fiancee (which effectively began his
writing career) and the self-immolating attack on the church (which
ended it), Kierkegaard's adult life was surprisingly uneventful.
Twenty years of studying German philosophers and writing like a
fiend produced some fascinating books, but it did not make for
riveting biography. Furthermore, the breadth of Hannay's knowledge
occasionally pushes him towards the hagiographic; he tends to find
a rationale for every utterance of Kierkegaard's, no matter how
small or strange, despite the strong possibility that Kierkegaard
(with his love of pseudonyms and propensity for depression) may
have been a bit unstable. For those with the patience and
willingness to work their way through, though, a remarkably
nuanced, delicately drawn picture of Kierkegaard's thought
eventually emerges here. Kierkegaard's great fear was that later
thinkers would cram his life's work into a two-paragraph precis;
Hannay has gone to great lengths to prevent that from ever
happening. (Kirkus Reviews)
Written by one of the world's preeminent authorities on Kierkegard, this biography is the first to reveal the delicate imbrication of Kierkegard's life and thought. To grasp the importance and influence of Kierkegaard's thought far beyond his native Denmark, it is necessary to trace the many factors that led this gifted but (according to his headmaster) 'exceedingly childish youth' to grapple with traditional philosophical problems and religious themes in a way that later generations would recognize as amounting to a philosophical revolution. Although Kierkegaard's works are widely tapped and cited they are seldom placed in context. Nor is due attention placed to their chronology. However, perhaps more than the work of any other contributor to the Western philosophical tradition, these writings are so closely meshed with the background and details of the author's life that knowledge of this is indispensible to their content. Alastair Hannay solves these problems by following the chronological sequence of events and focusing on the formative stages of his career from the success of his first, pseudonymous work ^Either/Or through to The Sickness Unto Death and Practice in Christianity. This book offers a powerful narrative account which will be of particular interest to philosophers, literary theorists, intellectual historians, and scholars of religious studies as well as any non-specialist looking for an authoritative guide to the life and work of one of the most original and fascinating figures in Western philosophy. Alastair Hannay is Professor Emeritus in the department of philosophy at the University of Oslo. He is the co-editor of The Cambridge Companion of Kierkegaard (1998) and is also translator of several works by Kierkegaard in Penguin Classics.
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