Abstract

Sontag has tried to produce a very simplified, clear exposition of Kierkegaard's thought in terms of brief discussions of key concepts. Although he manages to present the kaleidoscopic perspectives of Kierkegaard's indirect writings and his direct communications, the outcome, ironically, is not the lucidity that is intended. Without charging Sontag with not writing a book he did not, on this occasion, intend to write, one may question both his method and some omissions. Following a brief outline of Kierkegaard's life, a number of short sections are devoted to such dichotomies as "Aesthetic/ethical," "Certainty/change," "Individual/the Mass," "Necessity/possibility," etc. Throughout these sections Sontag introduces references to various works in an unobtrusive way and conveys a sense of what Kierkegaard was up to. There is a long section on The Book on Adler that calls attention to Kierkegaard's reversal of standpoint in relation to his previous writings that would surely leave a beginning reader in a state of confusion. In an excellent summary of Kierkegaard's ideas in "Repetition/freedom" the importance of "willed repetition" for the becoming of the self and for religious existence is lucidly presented. The repetitious nature of the themes in Kierkegaard's writings is mentioned and the boredom that results from "aesthetic" repetition is shown. Even here, however, the intimate relation between repetition and "Possibility/actuality" is not emphasized even though Kierkegaard links them in his Journals and Papers. Surprisingly, Sontag does not appeal to the Papers in his exposition even though they contain some of Kierkegaard's most dramatic and pithy statements about his thought, his intentions and what it means to "become a Christian." The method of explication that Sontag uses is sometimes misused. In "Truth/ Authority" we are told about the importance of Kierkegaard's unusual idea of "lived truth," but there is no mention of the central notion of "subjective truth" in a place which cries out for a discussion of it. In "Inwardness/communication" subjective truth is alluded to but not treated in any detail. In the section entitled "Individual/ The Mass" Sontag misses a good opportunity to reach those approaching Kierkegaard for the first time by not referring to the many shot-gun blasts against "communism," against "the crowd" and the leveling of values and communications in what Kierkegaard first called "the mass" in the Papers and Journals. Despite these quibbles, Sontag does certainly convey the meaning of Kierkegaard's existentialism and is very faithful to "what Kierkegaard said." Although A Kierkegaard Handbook is not the best "introduction" to the ironic Dane, it is clearly a useful one which makes many attempts to state Kierkegaard's views in the plainest language.--George J. Stack, SUNY at Brockport.