Kierkegaard and His Danish Contemporaries: Literature, drama, and aesthetics

Book excerpt: The present volume features articles that employ source-work research in order to explore the individual Danish sources of Kierkegaard's thought. The volume is divided into three tomes in order to cover the different fields of influence.Tome III is dedicated to the diverse Danish sources that fall under the rubrics Literature, Drama and Aesthetics. The Golden Age is known as the period when Danish prose first established itself in genres such as the novel; moreover, it was also an age when some of Denmark's most celebrated national poets flourished. Accordingly, this tome contains articles on Kierkegaard's use of the great Danish poets and prose writers, whose works are frequently quoted and alluded to throughout his writings. Kierkegaard regularly attended dramatic performances at Copenhagen's Royal Theater, which was one of Europe's leading playhouses at the time. In this tome his appreciation for the art of Denmark's best-known actors and actresses is traced. Finally, this tome features articles on the leading literary critics and aesthetic theorists of the Golden Age, who served as foils for Kierkegaard's own ideas.