Soren Kierkegaard

to King Christian VIII and his civil servants a letter in which he appealed
to the precedents of Martin Hammerich and Adolph Peter Adler, both of
whom had defended their dissertations in Danish in 1836 and 1840, respec-
tively. Curiously, he did not take the opportunity to mention a third and
even better-known example of such a dispensation, H. L. Martensen’s dis-
sertationMeister Eckhart, which had been approved in its Danish form in
March 1840. Perhaps Kierkegaard did not mention this instance because,
in the event, Martensen had not had to defend his dissertation, since the
University of Kiel had in the meanwhile awarded him an honorary doctor-
ate. But we cannot exclude the possibility that Kierkegaard did not want to
be linked to his former tutor, a man for whom, as time went by, he had
conceived an increasing hatred: Before he submitted his dissertation, Kier-
kegaard had called upon Martensen privately in order to read him a portion
of his manuscript, a polemic against Schlegel; Martensen did not approve
of the long-winded and highly mannered style of the piece and had there-
fore only expressed his “appreciation rather coolly.”
Whatever the particulars may have been, in his petition for a dispensation
from the Latin requirement, Kierkegaard emphasized that his topic required
a free and personal exposition; he referred to the excellent grades he had
received on his examinations; he pointed to his stint as a Latin teacher; and
he pledged that both the theses that would accompany the dissertation as
well as the oral defense would be in Latin. Finally, he included a copy of a
recommendation from Michael Nielsen, who gave his former pupil a de-
tailed and impressive testimonial, stating among other things: “Mr. S. Aabye
Kierkegaard, a theological graduate, excelled as a pupil in this school be-
cause of his hard work and intelligence and his brilliant understanding of
the subjects taught in general and of the form and spirit of languages in
particular. Even as a pupil he gave us cause to expect great things of his
integrity, self-reliance, and ability; his clear, acute, and comprehensive vi-
sion; his profound, lively, and serious mind; and his generally excellent gift
for exposition, which he has subsequently demonstrated....AsfarasIcan
judge, he has an unusual command of the Latin language, both orally and
in writing.”
While the king was formally considering Kierkegaard’s request, the six
notebooks containing the dissertation were circulated among the appro-
priate members of the university faculty. They did not raise any doubts
concerning the quality of the work, but they all grumbled about its untradi-
tional style. Kierkegaard himself had worried a bit about this matter: “I have
worked on this dissertation in fear and trembling in order to keep my dialec-
tic from swallowing up too much of it. People will find fault with the
uninhibited style. Some half-educated Hegelian robber or other will say