Either/Or: A Fragment of Life (Penguin Classics)
by Soren Kierkegaard
List Price:
Our Price: $10.22
You Save: $7.78 (43%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.84 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Soren KierkegaardEditor: Victor Eremita
Translator: Alastair Hannay
Introduction: Alastair Hannay
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1992-12-01
ISBN: 0140445773
Number of pages: 640
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Book Reviews of Either/Or: A Fragment of Life (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: Are You Already Seduced?
Summary: 5 Stars
When you are a young, attractive, seventeen year-old girl, you are the perfect bait for Johannes. Johannes falls in love with Cordelia. At first, his feelings are rather 'normal' - others who fall in love would most likely feel similarly towards their beloved. However, there comes a point when Johannes is unable to control his feelings - his 'crush' becomes an obsession. He is in search of a drama, and strives to be the director of his own play. He invades Cordelia's privacy by spying on her, and befriending her aunt. Johannes even attempts to bring in a third party candidate to win Cordelia's heart - an attractive young man named Edvard. Johannes succeeds. He is a master of manipulation. When Johannes' plan begins to backfire, Edvard is getting too close to Cordelia's heart for Johannes' comfort, he does the unimaginable - he proposes marriage to her! Cordelia refers him to her aunt, who is delighted because of the admiration she has for Johannes. Perhaps she wished him for herself? Nevertheless, Edvard is crushed. Johannes has no mercy, he finds Edvard's despair as humorous as the concept of engagement itself. This is where the story reaches its climax, and plummets from that of a romantic comedy to a devastating tragedy. Johannes' plan is to have Cordelia call off the engagement. However, he will not do this right away. Oh no! He must get her to her erotic peak, he must posses her soul, her self, before he will crush her. The seduction is referred to as several different things throughout the story. My personal favorite: "The web into which she is spun." Johannes and Cordelia begin a letter correspondence that is filled with symbolism and foreshadow. Cordelia signs her letter "Your Cordelia," and Johannes begins his with "My Cordelia." It is clear that he wants to posses her, and perhaps she is too innocent to know otherwise. I suppose that it would be fair to say that she basically hands herself over to him in writing. At the height of their romance, Johannes consciously destroys her. He retuns the letters that she has composed to him unopened. She may be young, a beginner in love, but she is not unwise. She realizes that she has lost herself to him; he has won the battle. Kierkegaard wrote his book "Either/Or" using his real name, Soren Kierkegaard. However, the section entitled "The Seducer's Diary," was written as by a pseudonymous author: Johannes. Perhaps this was a form of indirect communication for Kierkegaard. It makes perfect sense, for "The Seducer's Diary" is based on Kierkegaard's own romance with Miss Regina Olsen. However, this is where the concept of irony steps into the story. In real life, it was not Regina who broke off the engagement, but rather Kierkegaard himself! Perhaps writing the piece pseudonymously was a way for Kierkegaard to control a situation he ultimately never had control over - it was his way of directing his own play. Why did he need to do this? Simple: Indeed Johannes won his battle, but in a sense he has also lost it. Kierkegaard went to his grave still lovesick. He later admitted, "If I had faith, I would have remained with Regina." Kierkegaard had a tendency to contradict himself. He was a spiritual individual who preached faith, yet his comment above suggests otherwise. He also states several times in the story that he is in love, but his love is completely selfish. However, he later retracts this thought. To avoid boredom, the aesthetic Kierkegaard prescribes the "Rotation Method," which allows one to create their own world of pleasure. You fall in love not with the woman, but rather with the IDEA of the woman. Therefore, you don't risk loss. Kierkegaard explored 'fear' throughout a number of his works, and even went as far as to offer advice on how to overcome it. Therefore, it is ironic that he was a coward in terms of love. Nevertheless, the pseudonym, the irony, and contradiction enhance the story. For whatever impact my intellectual arrogance might have, "The Seducer's Diary" is a masterpiece. It is an eloquently written love story that doesn't involve love. "The Seducer's Diary" is a guide to any young girl who is on the brink of womanhood, or any person who is in search of their own self. It teaches us that one can't help losing their soul in love, but can help losing themselves. This was apparent in Kierkegaard's lifetime, and is still relevant today. Reading Kierkegaard is a pleasure. The reader becomes spun into the "web" of Kierkegaard's life, and afterward discovers something curious about their own existence.
Summary of Either/Or: A Fragment of Life (Penguin Classics)
In Either/Or, using the voices of two characters - the aesthetic young man of part one, called simply 'A', and the ethical Judge Vilhelm of the second section - Kierkegaard reflects upon the search for a meaningful existence, contemplating subjects as diverse as Mozart, drama, boredom, and, in the famous Seducer's Diary, the cynical seduction and ultimate rejection of a young, beautiful woman. A masterpiece of duality, Either/Or is a brilliant exploration of the conflict between the aesthetic and the ethical - both meditating ironically and seductively upon Epicurean pleasures, and eloquently expounding the noble virtues of a morally upstanding life.Reference Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Reference Books
The Professor and the Madmanby Simon Winchester
Harper; Published: 1998-08-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.49
Price in other shops:
Fluid Mechanicsby Irfan A. Khan
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1995-06-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $131.96
Price in other shops:
Verbal Judo: The Gentle Art of Persuasionby George Thompson
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 2004-03-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.51
Price in other shops:
Collins Gem Latin Dictionary: Latin English English Latin (Gem Dictionaries)Harpercollins; Published: 1990-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $258.18
Collins Gem Latin Dictionary: Second Edition (Collins Language)by HarperCollins Publishers
Collins Reference; Published: 1996-10-11; Turtleback; Book
Best price: $4.03
Price in other shops:
Principles of Modern Chemistry (Study Guide and Student Solutions Manual)by Freeman
Harcourt School; Published: 1991-01; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Doubter's Companion: A Dictionary of Aggressive Common Senseby John Ralston Saul
Free Press; Published: 1994-10-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.94
Price in other shops:
Gmat Cat: Answers to the Real Essay Questionsby Mark Alan Stewart, Frederick J. O'Toole, Linda Bomstad
Macmillan General Reference; Published: 1998-03-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $56.54
Arco Words for Smart Test-Takers (Arco Academic Test Preparation)by Mark Alan Stewart
Arco Pub; Published: 1998-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.95
Seven Years In Tibet (Flamingo Modern Classic)by Heinrich Harrer
Flamingo; Published: 1997-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.20
Similar Books and other products
Notes from Undergroundby Fyodor Dostoevsky
Vintage; Published: 1994-08-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.05
Price in other shops:
Abelard & Heloise: The Letters and Other Writingsby Peter Abelard, Heloise
Hackett Pub Co; Published: 2007-03-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.96
Price in other shops:
Paradise Lostby John Milton, David Scott Kastan, Merritt Yerkes Hughes
Hackett Pub Co; Published: 2005-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.16
Price in other shops:
The Romance of Tristan and Iseult (Dover Books on Literature & Drama)Dover Publications; Published: 2005-02-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.81
Price in other shops:
The Portable Dante (Penguin Classics)by Dante Alighieri
Penguin Group USA; Penguin Classics; Published: 2003-07-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.26
Price in other shops:
The Sickness unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition of Edification & Awakening by Anti-Climacus (Penguin Classics)by Soren Kierkegaard
Penguin Classics; Published: 1989-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.51
Price in other shops:
Symposiumby Plato
Hackett Publishing Co; Published: 1989-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.97
Price in other shops:
Being and Nothingnessby Jean-Paul Sartre
Washington Square Press; Published: 1993-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.74
Price in other shops:
Works of Loveby Soren Kierkegaard
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2009-03-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.81
Price in other shops:
Fear and Trembling (Penguin Classics)by Soren Kierkegaard
Penguin Classics; Published: 1986-01-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.78
Price in other shops: