A literary review : Two ages, a novel by the author of A story of everyday life, published by J.L. Heiberg, Copenhagen, Reitzel, 1845 / reviewed by S. Kierkegaard ; translated with an introduction and notes by Alastair Hannay.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kierkegaard, Søren, 1813-1855.

Contributor:

Hannay, Alastair.

Series:

Penguin classics

Language:

Danish

English

Subjects (All):

Gyllembourg, Thomasine, 1773-1856. To tidsaldre.

Gyllembourg, Thomasine.

Philosophy and civilization.

Physical Description:

xxvii, 109 pages ; 20 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Penguin, 2001.

Language Note:

Translated from the Danish.

Summary:

Ostensibly a critique of a contemporary novel, A Literary Review is seen by many as remarkably prophetic of our own times, and its apocalyptic final sections inspired central ideas in Heidegger's Being and Time. Two Ages, the novel under review, tells the story of a family whose fortunes span the immediate post-Revolutionary Age, a period characterized by honour, loyalty and passion, and the advent of Modernity, where a rational dull conformity prevails. Kierkegaard used the review to present a devastating analysis of his own society, in which identities were being lost and ideals displaced by an all-consuming envy. He foresaw that the outcome of this process would be to confront people with a stark choice between an empty existence and devotion to God. After four intensive years, during which he wrote some of his best-known works, including Either/Or, Kierkegaard intended A Literary Review to be his last work. Instead it opened up a new stage in his career which was marked by an even more stringent condemnation of respectable society, the established Church and spiritual complacency. The Review's central insights remain just as relevant to our own age of nihilism, drug-addiction, high fashion and media hype.

Contents:

I Prospectus of the Contents of Both Parts 21

Part 1 The Age of Revolution 21

Part 2 The Present Age 24

II An Aesthetic Reading of the Novel and Its Details 27

III The Results of Observing the Two Ages 52

The Age of Revolution 53.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages xxv-xxvi).

ISBN:

0140448012

OCLC:

59531833