Kierkegaard on Art and Communication

208 Pages·1992·28.873 MB·English

by  George Pattison (eds.)

KIERKEGAARD ON ART AND COMMUNICATION
Also by George Pattison and from the same publishers
ART, MODERNITY AND FAITH
KIERKEGAARD: The Aesthetic and the Religious
Kierkegaard on Art
and ComInunication
Edited by
George Pattison
Dean olCIUlpel, King's College, Cambridge
M
St. Martin's Press
Selection and editorial matter © George Linsley Pattison 1992
Chapter 1 © Sylvia Walsh 1992
Chapter 7 © Robert L. Perkins 1992
© The Macmillan Press Ltd 1992
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1992
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or
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Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this
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claims for damages.
First published in Great Britain 1992 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-22474-6 ISBN 978-1-349-22472-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-22472-2
Reprinted 1994
First published in the United States of America 1992 by
Scholarly and Reference Division,
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
175 Fifth Avenue,
New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-07478-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kierkegaard on art and communication / edited by George Pattison
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-312-07478-4
1. Kierkegaard, SeJren, 1813-1855. 2. Aesthetics, Modern-19th
century. 3. Communication-History-19th century. I. Pattison
George, 1950-
B4377.K46 1992
111'.85-dc20 91-30318
CIP
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
List of Abbreviations viii
Notes on the Contributors xi
Editor's Introduction xiii
1 Kierkegaard: Poet of the Religious 1
Sylvia Walsh
2 Aesthetics and Religion: Kierkegaard and the Offence
of Indirect Communication 23
Brayt on Polka
3 On Being Sidetracked by the Aesthetic: Kierkegaard's
Practical Paradox 55
Richard H. Bell
4 Kierkegaard, the Aesthetic and Mozart's Don Giovanni 64
Bemard Zelechow
5 The Role of Folk and Fairy Tales in Kierkegaard's
Authorship 78
Grethe Kjcer
6 'Keeping Silent through Speaking' 88
Jan Rogan
7 Abraham's Silence Aesthetically Considered 100
Robert L. Perkins
8 Indirect Communication: Hegelian Aesthetic and
Kierkegaard's Literary Art 114
John Heywood Thomas
v
vi Contents
9 The Apostle, the Genius and the Monkey:
Reflections on Kierkegaard's 'The Mirror of the Word' 125
Hugh S. Pyper
10 Fighting for Narnia: Seren Kierkegaard and C. S. Lewis 137
Julia Watkin
11 Reflections on the 'Other' in Dinesen, Kierkegaard and
Nietzsche 150
Irena Makarushka
12 Confidence as a Work of Love 160
Martin Andic
Index 185
Acknowledgements
I should like to thank, in the first instance, David Jasper for his help
in setting up and running the conference 'Kierkegaard: The Chris
tian in Love with Aesthetics'; those who gave papers of a consist
ently high quality at the conference, but which I have been unable
to include here; Bob Perkins for the system of abbreviations adopted
in this book and also for permission to use his paper printed here as
Chapter 7, which is a shortened version of an article previously
printed in International Kierkegaard Commentary: 'Fear and Trembling'
(Macon, Ga: Macon University Press, 1991); the Royal Danish
Embassy, London, who gave substantial financial support for the
conference; Angela Brooks for typing; and my family for bearing
with the neuroses concomitant upon editorial work, which, if not
as obvious as those connected with original creative work, are no
less anti-social in their effects.
I should also like to pay tribute to Mr Graham Eyre, who died
shortly after completing the copy-editing of this book. His careful
and thorough work made a significant impact on the overall read
ability and accuracy of the book, for which I am extremely grateful.
G.P.
vii
List of Abbreviations
KIERKEGAARD'S WORKS IN ENGLISH
AN Armed Neutrality and An Open Letter, tr. Howard and
Edna Hong (Bloomington and London: Indiana Uni
versity Press, 1968).
C The Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an Actress, tr. Stephen
Crites (New York: Harper and Row, 1967).
CA The Concept cif Anxiety, tr. R. Thomte (Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1980).
CD Christian Discourses, tr. WaIter Lowrie (New York and
London: Oxford University Press, 1940).
Cl The Concept of Irony, tr. Howard and Edna Hong
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989).
COR The Corsair Affair, tr. Howard and Edna Hong (Princeton,
NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982).
CUP Concluding Unscientific Postscript, tr. David F. Swenson
and WaIter Lowrie (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1941).
ED Edifying Discourses, 4 vols, tr. David F. and Lillian Marvin
Swenson (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House,
1943-6).
EO Either/Or, 2 vols, tr. Howard and Edna Hong (Princeton,
NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987).
FSE For Self-Examination and Judge for Yourselves, tr. Howard
and Edna Hong (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1990).
FT(IR) Fear and Trembling and Repetition, tr. Howard and Edna
Hong (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983).
GS The Gospel of Suffering, tr. David F. and Lillian Marvin
Swenson (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House,
1948).
JP Seren Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers, 6 vols, tr. Howard
and Edna Hong (Bloomington and London: Indiana
University Press, 1967-78).
JSK The Journals of Seren Kierkegaard, tr. Alexander Dru (Lon
don and New York: Oxford University Press, 1938).
viii
List of Abbreviations ix
KAUC Kierkegaard's Attack upon 'Christendom', tr. Waiter Lowrie
(Princeton, NI: Princeton University Press, 1944).
LD Letters and Documents, tr. Henrik Rosenmeier (Princeton,
NI: Princeton University Press, 1978).
LY The Last Years, tr. Ronald Gregor Smith (New York:
Harper and Row, 1965).
OAR On Authority and Revelation, The Book on Adler, tr. Waiter
Lowrie (Princeton, NI: Princeton University Press, 1955).
PF Philosophical Fragments and Johannes Climacus, tr. Howard
and Edna Hong (Princeton, NI: Princeton University
Press, 1985).
PH Purity of Heart, tr. Douglas Steere, 2nd edn (New York:
Harper, 1948).
PV The Point of View, tr. Waiter Lowrie (London and New
York: Oxford University Press, 1939).
SLW Stages on Life'S Way, tr. Howard and Edna Hong
(Princeton, NI: Princeton University Press, 1988).
SUD The Sickness unto Death, tr. Howard and Edna Hong
(Princeton, NI: Princeton University Press, 1980).
TA Two Ages, tr. Howard and Edna Hong (Princeton, NI:
Princeton University Press, 1978).
TC Training in Christianity, tr. Waiter Lowrie (London and
New York: Oxford University Press, 1941; repr.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1944).
TCS Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions (Thoughts on Cru
cial Situations in Human Life), tr. and ed. David F. and
Lillian Marvin Swenson (Minneapolis: Augsburg Pub
lishing House, 1941).
WL Works of Love, tr. Howard and Edna Hong (New York:
Harper and Row, 1962).
These abbreviations refer to those translations generally used through
out this book. On the few occasions when another translation has
been used, references will be given in the relevant footnotes. Other
wise all references are given in the text. In the cases of SBren
Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers and Letters and Documents references
are to entry rather than to page number (the six volumes of the
Journals and Papers are numbered consecutively throughout).