other in the street and were often compelled to limit their conversations to
polite greetings or to a bow displaying feigned respect—because their desks
at home were covered with scurrilous manuscripts about one another, or
they were just returning from the printer’s where the proliferation of their
venomous views was in full swing.
This was also true in this case. A couple of days later, January 2, 1846,
the latest issue ofThe Corsairappeared. It included a lengthy article by
Goldschmidt that had a correspondingly lengthy title, to wit, “How the
Wandering Philosopher Discovered the Wandering Actual Editor ofThe
Corsair.” The article provided an account, untruthful down to the least de-
tail, of howThe Corsair’s editor, Coronato the Terrible, a famous Venetian
bandit, for whom the police had long been searching, had now been taken
into custody. The article explained the specific circumstances: “The re-
markable coincidence through which everything came to light is this: Here
in the city there dwells a great and famous hermit and philosopher called
Frater Taciturnus, or the Silent Brother. This is only his hermit name, how-
ever; he has another name under which he strolls the streets every day, but
it would be indiscreet to reveal it.” One evening Coronato the Terrible
had confided in this philosophical hermit under a pledge of secrecy, but
whenGæawas published it was too much for the philosopher, so he imme-
diately paid a visit toFædrelandet, whose editor was made acquainted with
these very peculiar complications. The editor (who in reality was named
J. F. Giødwad and was Kierkegaard’s friend and literary confidant) was at
first reluctant, but he gradually came to approve of the strategy: “If you
now declare thatThe Corsairis a disgusting magazine, we will kill two birds
with one stone. Because naturally people will believe everything that is said
by you—Fædrelandetbows respectfully—Denmark’s greatest philosopher,
Denmark’s most brilliant intellect, author of Denmark’s thickest books.”
AfterFædrelandetand Frater Taciturnus had showered each other with unc-
tuous praise like this for some time, the latter seized his pen and sat down
to write. “ ‘The pen does write rather powerfully,’ said Frater Taciturnus,
‘but I am also terribly hot-tempered. Now I have declared P. L. Møller to
be editor ofThe Corsair, and I have done it so emphatically that tomorrow
the government will have to seize him.’
Fædrelandet: ‘Yes, that is certainly good, o great genius of a philosopher,
butThe Corsairitself! Don’t forgetThe Corsair! For God’s sake don’t
mince your words.’
The Silent Brother(dipping his pen once again into the ink): ‘Relax,
now I am going to kill it! You may certainly make arrangements
for the funeral....See, there! Now it’s done! Now you will also