Customer Reviews

The Moment and Late Writings: Kierkegaard's Writings, Vol. 23

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Sadly, this volume of Hong's translation of Kierkegaard's work is yet another quickly-out-of-print delicacy. Few are likely to shell out the $80 (or more!) to own this book, so hopefully you can find it at your local library (or request it via interlibrary loan).

Also, like the other Hong translations, there is so much context to dive into. Kierkegaard's polemical attacks on the Danish State Church provoked a literary riot of controversy and rage. Responses from Danish clergy (namely Bishop Martensen) and various supporters or detractors of Kierkegaard are included in appendices, as well as a lengthy selection of journal entries from Kierkegaard.

This is Kierkegaard writing perhaps in his most concise style. The articles get repetitive ("...a truth-witness, one of the authetic truth witnesses, one of the holy chain.") when read altogether, but when one takes into account the dates and the rate at which Kierkegaard was writing and publishing them, and then if one compares the responses, it can be imagined that there was quite a stir going on in the press. And this, of course, was exactly Kierkegaard's intention. He was writing forcefully, persuasively, and personally, finding this attack on the "corrupted" nature of Official Christiandom to be the culmination of his literary calling.

This is Kierkegaard as a 40-something curmudgeon, summing up his legacy, and never writing with more passion than here, months before his death.

This volume of the Kierkegaard's Writings Series is certain to fall into the "Kierkegaard Studies" category, pretty much exclusively, being that those academics who make use of his philosophical work may find little utility here. However, if you're intending to read the whole book casually, set aside plenty of time. With all of the notes and supplemental material, there's lots of page flipping, and it's a little hard to navigate.