Translator’s Preface

This translation is based on Søren Kierkegaards Papirer (vols. I–XI:3, edited by P. A. Heiberg, V. Kuhr and E. Torsting, 1909–48; supplementary vols. XII–XIII, edited by N. Thulstrup, 1969–70). The text of Papirer forms the third and most comprehensive edition of Kierkegaard’s papers and journals, its thirteen titled volumes comprising twenty-five separate bindings (these include three index volumes). A first short-lived attempt to collate the papers was made by his brother-in-law, J. C. Lund, who inherited the entire manuscript collection on Kierkegaard’s death. Three years later it was handed over to Kierkegaard’s brother, then Bishop of Aalborg, but nothing more was done with the journal manuscripts until H. P. Barfod undertook the task of compilation in 1865. Unfortunately, Barfod threw away a significant portion of the originals he had transcribed, or at least took no steps to preserve them, so that many of the earlier entries (until 1847) in Papirer have had to be based on Barfod’s transcriptions. Lund’s and Barfod’s numbering has been preserved. In view of many uncertainties about dates and inaccuracies in transcription, the current Papirer cannot be considered the final version. A definitive text is not only planned, however, but is already being prepared under the auspices of the newly-established Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre at the University of Copenhagen.

The magnitude of the task may be glimpsed from the sample manuscript page containing entries II A 67–9 and II A 597. The Papirer transcription of the entry on the right (II A 68) deviates significantly from the text. But the latter is in Barfod’s handwriting and is in fact his rough-and-ready transcription of the passage crossed out on the left, while the Papirer transcription is the editors’ attempt to recover the original more accurately.

We see that Barfod has min Gud (my God) while the editors have read milde Gud (merciful God). They also read Rørdam where Barfod, perhaps from discretion, had put dots though he has replaced them with R.–. The editors also take what Barfod transcribes as the second person singular pronoun du in du, min Gud (you, my God) to be capitalized.

The illustration also helps to show the reader what the frequent indication ‘In the margin’ means. Kierkegaard left plenty of space to make his own changes and insertions, In numbering the entries, the editors have in many cases had to decide for themselves whether an entry was a note to a neighbouring entry or an entry in its own right.

The margin allows us to note a third feature illustrated by the status of entry II A 597 as a ‘loose paper’ but in Barfod’s handwriting. Probably the original had been placed with the sheet by Kierkegaard himself, though one cannot be sure. Barfod has transcribed it and the original is lost. The dating of such entries remains uncertain even where the other entries have firm dates, as is by no means often the case.

That the majority of journal entries lack dates is compensated for by the fact that all of an extremely important series of thirty-six manuscript journals beginning 9 March 1846 have initial dates, which in view of their number allows their entries to be fairly precisely placed. The scope of these individual journals is indicated by a line before and after the relevant entries, and there is a reference attached to the number of the first entry in each journal to an end-note which provides the date from which the journal in question begins. The numbers of all the entries are as in Papirer but with an additional prefix giving the year.

The reader will notice that all entries also have either an A, B, or C prefix. This is an established convention, according to which A-entries are journal entries proper, though not, or very seldom, in the sense of plain records of the day’s events; there are indeed very few ‘journal’ entries in that sense, though recollections of past events do indeed occur quite extensively as Kierkegaard takes stock of his situation to date. B-entries are notes in connection with works to be published, or in some cases actual excerpts, included in Papirer and here because they have been underlined by Kierkegaard and occasionally commented upon. The C-entries are of a more academic provenance, mainly notes or comments on theological, philosophical and literary topics.

Naturally enough, the main part of this selection comprises A-entries, but both B- and C-entries are included where the latter help to cast light on the works referred to in the former. In general, the selection is arranged chronologically, the doubts and few exceptions being duly noted. Some of the latter are in the form of comments on entries made in a previous year. In these cases the year is given in italic (see, for instance, I A 9, on page 10).

In selecting the entries, I have aimed at presenting as comprehensive a picture of Kierkegaard’s life and works as is possible within the confines of a single manageable volume. The introductions to the separate chapters are designed to provide enough background for the entries to be grasped, where relevant, as belonging to a particular phase of Kierkegaard’s career. The chapter divisions are designed to correspond with periods distinct enough to count as such phases.

Some entries are very long. Occasionally I have made cuts, of varying length, and in some cases have included only a few lines from a long entry. All cuts are marked […] in the text. Any other such indication, except references to end-notes, is in the original.

There are other translations which over the years have proved immensely valuable to English-speaking Kierkegaard scholars, including myself. Not least of these is the extensive and impressively annotated translation by Howard and Edna Hong. As yet, however, there is no complete English translation, or indeed anything approaching it. It is to be hoped that, for those daunted by the prospect of learning Danish in order to go to the original, there will one day be such a translation, adequate to the content and to Kierkegaard’s style, and based on a definitive text.

I would like to express my gratitude to Niels Jørgen Cappelørn, Director of the Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre, for providing the photographic copy of the sample page and for valuable assistance and advice.

I am most deeply grateful to my editor, Christine Collins, for her meticulous help which has saved me from more embarrassments than I care to consider.