Table of Contents

Introduction by Alastair Hannay ix Preface xxiii Background 3 Childhood 31 Early Youth - 1830 to 1834 55 The Great Earthquake - Twenty-second birthday 67 At the Cross Roads - 1835 79 The Path of Perdition- 1836 92 Groping His Way Back - May 1836 to May 1838 104 Father and Son United - Twenty-five years of age 118 The Great Parenthesis - August 1838 to July 1840 128 Regina - September 1840 to October 1841 135 The Aesthetic Works 1841 to 1845 144 The Postscript - 1846 166 The Affair of the Corsair - 1846- 176 Thirty-four Years Old - 1847 188 The Edifying Discourses - 1843 - 1855 196 Metamorphosis - 1848 201 Venturing Far Out - 1849 to 1851 210 Holding Out - 1852 to 1854 222 Godly Satire - 1854/55 239 Death and Burial - October 2 to November 18, 1855 253 Kierkegaard's Last Words 257 Kierkegaard's Works in English 261 How Kierkegaard Got into English 265 Index 289

About the Author

Walter Lowrie (1868-1959) played a leading role in introducing Kierkegaard to the English-speaking world as his first English-language biographer and the first English translator of more than a dozen volumes of his work.

Reviews

"Probably as good an introduction to Kierkegaard and his works as any that is likely ever to be produced."--Times Literary Supplement "A remarkable phosphorescent condensation... [Lowrie gives] us the very essence of the man... A superb study."--New Republic "A very fine introduction."--Commonweal "A magnificent portrait."--Christian Century "A sympathetic and powerful study."--Union Seminary Review "A clear and moving account of the history of Kierkegaard's development and his writings."--Baltimore Evening Sun