KIERKEGAARD BIBLIOGRAPHY
books by and about
Søren Kierkegaard
reviewed by James Park
Copyright
©
2010 by James Leonard Park
1. Alastair
Hannay
Kierkegaard, A Biography
(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press, 2001)
496 pages
(ISBN: 0-512-56077-2; hardcover)
(Library of Congress call number: B4376.H36 2001)
Alastair Hannay is a long-time scholar
and translator of Kierkegaard's works.
He puts his deep understanding of SK
into this comprehensive story of SK's life.
References is made to the writing and publishing of each book,
but Hannay do not concentrate on the content of SK's thought
as much as on the events of his life and relationships.
I
recommend reading this biography alongside
Søren Kierkegaard: Papers and Journals: A Selection,
which is organized chronologically
---selected and translated by Alastair Hannay.
2. Søren Kierkegaard
Papers and Journals: A Selection
selected and translated by Alastair Hannay
(Hamondsworth, UK:
Penguin Books, 1996) 683 pages
(ISBN: 0-14-044589-7; paperback)
(Library of Congress call number:
)
Several different selections from SK's journals and
papers
are available in English,
even a few (like this one) that attempt to condense
the many volumes Kierkegaard left at his death into just one volume.
Alastair Hannay has chosen to focus on the events of
SK's life
in preparing this volume.
(Other selections focus on his philosophy.)
Because of this biographical focus,
these selections are organized chronologically
into 7 phases of Søren Kierkegaard's life.
I recommend reading this selection alongside a
biography of SK's life,
such as the one by Hannay reviewed above.
3. Bruce H. Kirmmse, editor
Encounters with Kierkegaard:
A Life as Seen by His Contemporaries
(Princeton, NJ:
Princeton UP, 1996) 358 pages
(ISBN: 0-691-01106-0; hardcover)
(Library of Congress call number: B4376.E43 1996)
Hundreds of people were acquainted with Søren
Kierkegaard
during his short life, 1813-1855.
Every day he walked the streets of Copenhagen, Denmark,
where he lived his whole life.
This book is a remarkable collection of recollections
gathered from people who knew SK
---friends, relatives, colleagues, even critics.
These accounts were previously published in Danish,
in many different places and forms.
And now---a century and a half after the persons and events described---
these memories are published in English.
About 70 pages of notes explain who the writers were
and many of the obscure references in these letters, books,
recollections as told to others, etc.
These accounts provide deep insights into how
Kierkegaard's contemporaries understood him and reacted to him.
They knew SK as a person observed.
But one overwhelming impression for this reviewer
is that none of his contemporaries understood SK.
They sometimes appreciated his writings for their esthetic value.
But none shows any grasp of the central meanings
of the philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard.
These personal accounts are all very interesting
background material.
But to understand Kierkegaard, we must read his own words.
begun 2003; revised 9-17-2010
Several of Kierkegaard's books most directly
relating to his form of spirituality
are reviewed in the Existential
Spirituality Bibliography
.
If you would like to join the Church of St. Soren,
an Internet community exploring existential spirituality,
go to The
Church of St. Soren
.