Volume 7
Sibbern’s Remarks and Investigations Primarily Concerning Hegel’s
Philosophy,
translated by Jon Stewart
One of Denmark’s greatest
philosophers during its greatest philosophical period, Frederik
Christian Sibbern (1785-1872) was a major figure on the landscape of the
Danish Golden Age. Profoundly influenced by German philosophy, he was
personally acquainted with figures such as Fichte, Schleiermacher,
Goethe and Schelling. Sibbern had long been interested in the philosophy
of G.W.F. Hegel but had never written any extended analysis of it.
When Johan Ludvig Heiberg unveiled his new philosophical journal
Perseus in 1837, as a part of his Hegelian campaign, he provided
Sibbern with the occasion that he had been waiting for. In a series of
eight installments in the journal, Maanedsskrift for Litteratur,
Sibbern published an extensive critical account of Hegel’s philosophy
under the guise of a review of the first volume of Heiberg’s Perseus.
In the fall of 1838 he collected the first four installments of this
review and published them as an independent monograph entitled,
Remarks and Investigations Primarily Concerning Hegel’s Philosophy.
This work represents arguably the most exhaustive, detailed and profound
analysis of Hegel’s philosophy ever to appear in the Danish language,
anticipating many aspects of Kierkegaard’s famous criticism. With the
present volume Sibbern appears in English for the first time. Now
international readers can catch a glimpse of this towering philosophical
genius and gain a deeper appreciation for the significance of his
contributions to Golden Age Denmark.
(ca. 400pp.)
Volume 8
Hans Christian Andersen’s Only a Fiddler,
translated by Katalin Nun and Jon
Stewart
This important novel was published by Hans Christian Andersen in 1837.
It immediately caught the attention of the young Søren Kierkegaard who
wrote an extensive review of it, which he published as his first book,
From the Papers of One Still Living. While many scholars today
are familiar with Kierkegaard’s review, few have ever read Andersen’s
text. With this translation this text will finally be made available to
the international research. This work will help scholars better
understand Kierkegaard’s much disputed critique of Andersen by providing
a glimpse into the other side of the story, namely Andersen’s novel.
(ca. 500pp.)
P.M. Møller’s “Thoughts on
the Possibility of Proofs of Immortality” and Other Texts,
translated by Finn Gredal Jensen and
Jon Stewart
Poul Martin Møller’s long article on the then current debate about
immortality was his most important single philosophical work. It was
published in 1837 in the Maanedsskrift for Litteratur and was
widely read and discussed during the period. Kierkegaard regarded Møller
as a kind of mentor and was profoundly influenced by his account of the
issue. In works such as The Concept of Anxiety, the Concluding
Unscientific Postscript and Christian Discourses, Kierkegaard
refers to Møller’s article and develops his own views on the subject.
This volume contains the first ever English translation of Møller’s
original text as well as the excerpts from these works by Kierkegaard
where it is discussed.
(ca. 400pp.)
Volume 10
Heiberg’s New Poems and
Other Texts,
translated by Jon Stewart
Johan Ludvig Heiberg’s satirical poem “A Soul after Death” was one of
his most successful works. A part of the collection New Poems,
published in 1841, it portrays the journey of a recently deceased
bourgeois citizen of Copenhagen as he tries to gain entry to Heaven,
Elysium and finally Hell. Heiberg uses the piece to criticize what he
takes to be the general lack of culture that he sees among his Golden
Age contemporaries.
This volume contains an English translation of Heiberg’s New Poems
along with two influential reviews of it by Eggert Christopher Tryde and
Hans Lassen Martensen. Both Heiberg’s text and these reviews were
profoundly influential for Kierkegaard, who refers to them in works such
as The Concept of Irony and the Concluding Unscientific
Postscript.
(ca. 400pp.)
Volume 11
Kierkegaard’s “A Word of
Thanks to Professor Heiberg” and Other Texts,
translated by Mads Sohl Jessen and Jon Stewart
Johan Ludvig Heiberg wrote a dismissive book review of Kierkegaard’s
breakthrough work Either/Or in 1843. Kierkegaard responded under
the pseudonym Victor Eremita with a sarcastic polemical article entitled
“A Word of Thanks to Professor Heiberg.” This was the beginning of a
long tit for tat polemic between Kierkegaard and Heiberg, which
culminated in Kierkegaard’s famous book Prefaces. This volume
collects a total of 9 texts from the hand of Heiberg and Kierkegaard
that tell the amusing and insightful story of this animated polemic.
These texts have never been made available in English before and will
help the international reader to better understand Kierkegaard’s views
on not just Heiberg but also literature, aesthetics, art, humor and many
other topics.
(ca. 300pp.)
