of that, because theirs aredefective.” Of course, this is in itself an affected
littlewitticism,butKierkegaardwantedtogoonthecounteroffensive,and
onalooseslipofpaper,datedthesameday,henoted:“IfonlyIcouldsoon
be done with my university examinations so that I could again become a
quodlibetarius.” Aquodlibetariusis a person who does just exactly what he
wants. And then Kierkegaard repeats a line he had used against Andersen:
“Like a thunderstorm, the genius goes against the wind.”
Kierkegaard, however,never did issue arejoinder to Hertz,while Hertz
had plans of using Kierkegaard as a model in other literary contexts. Thus,
inoneofhissketchbooksfromthelatterpartof1844,Hertzwrites:“When
Kg. talkswith youngpeopleatthe StudentAssociation,heisto speakvery
slowlyandaskthemateverymomentwhethertheyhaveunderstoodhim.”
Nothing ever came of this or of a similar idea, and Hertz was less and less
capableofunderstandingKierkegaard,whoseemedtohimlittlemorethan
a “writerof serializednovels” who “let his pen runon about all manner of
things,” turning “molehills” into “mountains.” Hertz was not taken with
theperpetualuseofpseudonymsand foundKierkegaard’sworksmuchtoo
large,callingthemuncrackable“nuts”with“relativelysmallkernels.”Hertz
could not understand why Emil Aarestrup spoke warmly ofEither/Or, but
henonethelessacceptedfromKierkegaardadedicatedcopyofthatworkin
1849,whenitappearedinitssecondprinting,justashealsoreceivedacopy
ofOn My Work as an Authorin 1851. The two men occasionally met by
chance in the inns of northern Zealand, and Hertz subsequently remem-
bered how Kierkegaard would arrive in the coach “with the extra post,
climbingoutofthecarriageintothepouringrain,whichheliked,”bringing
withhimabraceofpartridgesorsnipe,onefortheinnkeeper,theotherfor
himself. As fate would have it, in late July 1851 the two men chanced to
stay at Hvidberg’s Inn in Hørsholm during an eclipse of the sun. They did
not talk to each other, for while Hertz was preoccupied with the unusual
astronomical event, Kierkegaarddined in his room in peace and quiet.
“My Reading for the Examinations Is the Longest Parenthesis”
Duringthesummerof1839PeterChristianhadtraveledaroundthecoun-
try, stopping at the village of Sædding to call on his father’s sister Else. In
mid-September Else wrote Peter Christian a touching letter in which she
thankedhimandtoldhimhowmovedshewastohavebeenvisitedbysuch
an important man; as a thank you she had a messenger deliver “6 milde