From Athena Rare Books ABAA, Fairfield, CT, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
AbeBooks Seller since 24 January 2003
About this Item
Kierkegaard's Famous "Either-Or" Challenge to Life - PMM 314Volume 1: Half-title + TP + [V]-XX = Forord + [XXI] = Indhold + half-title + [3]-470 + 2 blank leaves; Volume 2: Half-title + TP + 1 leaf = Inhold + half-title + [1]-368 + 1 blank leaf, Octavo, First Edition (Himmelstrup 20).With the often missing half-titles present. This is one of only 525 copies printed of this work."Kierkegaard's third published book and the first of many pseudonymous 'aesthetic' works. Generally regarded as the first major statement of his own unsystematic philosophy, this 'fragment' is a literary and philosophical tour de force incorporating a stunning array of subject matter, literary effects, and moods, including melancholy aphorisms and personal meditation, elaborate musical, dramatic and literary criticism, lyrical effusions, odd essays on unhappiness and boredom, a strange 'Seducer's Diary' and, in the second volume, an extended treatise on marriage, the human personality and the ethical life in the form of a letter from a Judge to a younger man, capped by a sermon sounding a note of radical doubt about both the aesthetic and ethical justifications for existence." (Wronoski, p. 11)"Enten-Eller was written before he was twenty-nine. It is a curious bundle of papers, essays, semi-dialogues and notes, seemingly ill-assorted, but in fact dialectically arranged. Adopting what he called an 'aesthetic attitude' he held that this consisted in balancing possibilities, and that in matters religious and ethical it was up to the individual to make his choice. Choice, as the title of his work suggests, was at the root of Kierkegaard's theory. There can be no system of existence, only a system of ideas. From this he develops his thesis of 'Existence" (since taken up by the modern Existentialist), in which human beings considered as subjects not objects are the only real existence: their reflective as opposed to active nature being focused on the 'acts' of making perpetual decisions" (PMM, pp. 190-91) Printing and the Mind of Man 314. Contemporary embossed cloth with gilt decorations and lettering on the spines (which have been lightened by the sun). The half title volume one has the author's real name handwritten beneath the pseudonym (Victor Cremita) and someone has tried unsuccessfully to eradicate this - leaving the name and a small dark cloud around it. This failed attempt has bled over to the title page which shows a small cloudy stain in the corresponding location. (See photos.) The title page of volume 2 has a small, faded purple circular stamp (with no lettering) in the lower right corner. Other than these noted imperfections, this is a really lovely copy of this important work in Western Philosophy. ADDITIONAL PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. Seller Inventory # 1000
Bibliographic Details
Title: Enten-Eller Et Livs-Fragment. udgivet af ...
Publisher: C.A. Reitzel, Kjøbenhavn
Publication Date: 1843
Edition: FIRST EDITION.
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