Stephen Backhouse

If you want a relatively light-weight biography of Kierkegaard, this is not a bad place to start. It makes some weird--probably considered artsy-- choices along the way. For example, it starts with his funeral. It also clearly makes some assumptions that are based on the author's presumptions that might be accurate, but some feel like a bit of a reach. To me, there are 2 highlights in the book. First is a chapter that for me should have led off the whole book and that was all the people throughout history from Kierkegaard's death until today who have been influenced by his writings. The significance of this makes Kierkegaard's life and choices feel more important. The second is the list of his books coupled with a synopsis of each of his writings. Worth the read, but only if you are interested in Kierkgaard--at least on a casual level.… (mais)

Simply the best biography of SK I've ever read -- long or short -- and one of the best biographies EVER of ANY subject. The author has a clear, graceful, lucid writing style, as well as the knack of untangling difficult subjects to make them easily understood. He writes with emotion (the chapter on SK's engagement to Regine Olsen moved me to tears), wit, and humor (as befits his subject!). I especially appreciate the way Backhouse writes of SK's relationship to his society in 19th C. Denmark and the emphasis throughout on SK's faith. Very clear exposition of the major ideas of all of SK's writings, too, as well as a quick overview of how SK has been appreciated, interpreted, and misunderstood since his death. One wants to read Kierkegaard after having finished this -- and I can think of no higher tribute to the author's accomplishment. A ringing triumph! (Too bad Goodreads only allows me to give it five stars!!!)… (mais)

Kierkegaard: A Single Life is an interesting biography of the Nineteenth Century philosopher and a summary of some of his writing. The book is written for a general reader audience, and no prior knowledge of the man or subject matter is needed to enjoy reading it. Usually, I do not believe that biographical information of authors is needed to understand their work. But, in this book, the connection between life experiences of Soren help the reader to appreciate his “single life” approach to deciding on the meaning of life.

The work of Kierkegaard is not easy to summarize. After the major part of the book focusing on biography, Stephen Blackhouse presents an “overview” of Soren’s philosophy, something Kierkegaard resisted doing during his short life (42 years). Blackhouse admits the weakness of this short-cut presentation, clearly pointing out the philosopher’s challenge to an individual to work hard to understand his unique existence. I remember in high school the appeal of the complex writing that I thought would be something I could read and interpret for a lifetime. It did not work out that way, so reading Blackhouse’s book was an interesting sort of life review for me.

Even in the 1960s, I realized that Kierkegaard was thinking of life as an individual challenge for self-examination. Most people go through a process of what Erik Erikson called “foreclosure,” accepting traditional teaching in schools, church, and society and foreclosing on your loan of freedom in life. It is easier and faster to do that than to do the hard work of self-determination of a life path. On this topic, Blackhouse provides an emotional quote of Kierkegaard himself that to me is a summary of the death of introspection and insight provided by today’s social media: “And man, this clever fellow, seems to have become sleepless in order to invent ever new instruments to increase noise, to spread noise and insignificance with the greatest possible haste and on the greatest possible scale.” (p. 258) Communication is fast and furious signifying nothing related to individual meaning. I think of this as a foreclosure of life, allowing others to determine your beliefs and actions without any serious critical analysis of assumptions, methods, hypotheses, data, and conclusions.

I enjoyed this biography/summary of Soren Kierkegaard very much, especially as I evacuated form my beloved Low Country chased by Hurricane Matthew. I highly recommend that you read Blackhouse’s book and start reading and thinking about Soren’s work again (or for the first time) as I have done – it’s later than you think.… (mais)