av福利社

For over a century, the Danish thinker S酶ren Kierkegaard (1813鈥�55) has been at the center of a number of important discussions, concerning not only philosophy and theology but also, more recently, fields such as social thought, psychology, and contemporary aesthetics, especially literary theory.

Despite his relatively short life, Kierkegaard was an extraordinarily prolific writer, as attested to by the 26-volume av福利社 edition of all of his published writings. But Kierkegaard left behind nearly as much unpublished writing, most of which consists of what are called his 鈥渏ournals and notebooks.鈥� Kierkegaard has long been recognized as one of history鈥檚 great journal keepers, but only rather small portions of his journals and notebooks are what we usually understand by the term 鈥渄iaries.鈥� By far the greater part of Kierkegaard鈥檚 journals and notebooks consists of reflections on a myriad of subjects鈥攑hilosophical, religious, political, personal. Studying his journals and notebooks takes us into his workshop, where we can see his entire universe of thought. We can witness the genesis of his published works, to be sure鈥攂ut we can also see whole galaxies of concepts, new insights, and fragments, large and small, of partially (or almost entirely) completed but unpublished works. Kierkegaard鈥檚 Journals and Notebooks enables us to see the thinker in dialogue with his times and with himself.

Kierkegaard wrote his journals in a two-column format, one for his initial entries and the second for the extensive marginal comments that he added later. This edition of the journals reproduces this format, includes several photographs of original manuscript pages, and contains extensive scholarly commentary on the various entries and on the history of the manuscripts being reproduced.

Volume 11, Part 1, and Volume 11, Part 2, present an exciting, enlightening, and enormously varied treasure trove of papers that were found, carefully sorted and stored by Kierkegaard himself, in his apartment after his death. These papers鈥攎any of which have never before been published in English鈥攑rovide a window into many different aspects of Kierkegaard鈥檚 life and creativity. Volume 11, Part 1, includes items from his earliest, formative years, through his extensive studies at the university, and up to the publication of Either/Or. These materials include Kierkegaard鈥檚 studies in biblical exegesis; his reading of theologians such as Schleiermacher and Baader; his concern with aesthetic matters, including a lengthy consideration of the Faust legend; his first, trial sermon, delivered at the Pastoral Seminary; his views on the burgeoning field of political journalism in the 1830s; and a group of papers he titled 鈥淭he First Rudiments of Either/Or. The Green Book. Some Particulars that were not Used.鈥�