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Both/And: Reading Kierkegaard- From Irony to Edification (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy)

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This is a wonderfully concise review of a prolix literature. Strawser's point is that Kierkegaard's work cannot be deconstructed because he already deconstructed it himself. There is no necessary construction we can make of his work. It is all either/or or, as Strawser puts it, both-and. Those, SK included, who want to interpret his work in exclusively religious terms are defeated by the powerfully poetic-aesthetic aspect of it. While those who wish to claim he was exclusively a literary figure have to deal with the overpoweringly religious aspect of his work. Neither, from beginning to end of his authorship, are separated from the other. They are inextricably linked and therefore allow a completely noncoersive interpretation. Kierkegaard, the personality, disappears and the reader is left alone with the work. Or as SK put it "tis your heart that must be revealed." And revealed it is in the act of interpreting his works.