Abstract

As opposed to the ethical ideal of openness and communication Kierkegaard refers to an aesthetic strategy of closeness on the one hand, and to a demonic closeness on the other hand. The aesthetic closeness is the subject of Either/Or. The diary of John the Seducer in the first part offers a lively example of such a closeness, whereas judge William offers us an ironic diagnosis of a life that cultivates secrecy and furtiveness especially in love life, showing how it remains beneath the level of real love that requires openness and submission to the other. In Fear and Trembling Johannes de silentio presents two forms of what Quidam in Stages on the Life's Way calls demonic closeness. The first has a religious nature, the second is demonic in the stronger sense of the word. Both religious and demonic closeness represent a tendency to transcend the ethical duty of openness skipping the mediation of the universal. Abraham having to kill his son, is represented as the knight of faith: his closeness is inspired by religious motives; whereas the story of Agnete and the merman is used to show the ambiguities of demonic closeness, i.e. of an attachment to evil which leads towards extreme despair. While analysing the different versions of the story of the merman, the author tries to show that demonic closeness, i.e. sin, is the real theme of Fear and Trembling and of the whole of Kierkegaard's authorship