Product Description

Written by one of the world’s preeminent authorities on Kierkegaard, this biography is the first to reveal the delicate imbrication of Kierkegaard’s life and thought. To grasp the importance and influence of Kierkegaard’s thought far beyond his native Denmark, it is necessary to trace the many factors that led this gifted but (according to his headmaster) ‘exceedingly childish youth’ to grapple with traditional philosophical problems and religious themes in a way that later generations would recognize as amounting to a philosophical revolution. This book offers a powerful narrative account which will be of particular interest to philosophers, literary theorists, intellectual historians, and scholars of religious studies as well as any non-specialist looking for an authoritative guide to the life and work of one of the most original and fascinating figures in Western philosophy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1379972 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 510 pages

Review
‘A lucid and conscientiously written book that pays dazzling attention to the fine details.’ Harper’s Magazine

‘Hannay writes as a seasoned philosopher and gifted translator, offering ample and even-handed expositions of Kierkegaard’s published works and their immediate polemical contexts … this prudent, tactful and canny new life is exactly what Kierkegaard needed.’ Times Literary Supplement

‘Hannay’s judiciously selected quotes from Kierkegaard will surely seduce those who are not already in thrall to this master into reading at least some of his works firsthand.’ Publishers Weekly

‘Hannay has taken great pains not only to place Kierkegaard's writings within the context of the philosophical thought of his time but also to illustrate clearly the development of Kierkegaard's ideas within his own writings. The result is perhaps the best picture yet of Kierkegaard and his place in Western philosophical thought.’ Library Journal

‘Compelling reading by anyone with an interest in modern philosophy.’ Booklist

'… rewarding study … Here there is no doubt that his book marks a watershed in English-language Kierkegaard literature …'. Journal of Ecclesiastical History

Customer Reviews

Learned and useful, but inelegant and unbalanced
Hannay strikes me as a decent type, intelligent and certainly well-grounded in his field; but alas his prose style tends to the atrocious, and where he summarises SK's already fairly difficult (!) writings, he can become almost unreadably so. i felt he erred on the side of the works, leaving SK's 'self' only partly lit. Hannay's literary/philosophical criticism is i think too prominent for a biography - too often it doesn't really lead back to SK's life, and would belong rather in a work of lit criticism proper.

i'd recommend Kirmmse's book, 'Encounters with Kierkegaard' and the one-volume Journal (edited by Hannay) for those curious about Soren Kierkegaard's personality - though there may well be a good biography out there, this being the only i've read so far. The last two chapters, on SK's last days and post-humous reception, are worth reading, but the rest is a bit of a slog.