asserting that a “bodily disturbance, or as it would now be called, an illness,
had put the spirit into disorder and disarray.”
Pastor Tycho E. Spang, whose parents Kierkegaard would sometimes
visit, gave the following account, which to some extent appears to support
Sibbern’s diagnostic pronouncement: “His body was frail but was sustained
by enormous spiritual strength. We were told that he often had powerful
attacks from his ailments when he was with Giødwad, so that he would fall
to the floor, but he fought the pain with clenched hands and tensed muscles,
then took up the broken thread of the conversation again, and often said,
‘Don’t tell about this. What use is it for people to know what I must bear?’ ”
Israel Levin reported on a similar episode, also at Giødwad’s: Kierkegaard
sat one evening “on the sofa and had been so merry, playful, and charming.
Then he fell down off the sofa, and we helped him up. ‘Ohh, lemme l-l-l-
lie here till the girl sweeps up in the mornin,’ he stammered, but fainted
shortly thereafter.”
Could it be that the “convulsions” of which his elder sister Maren Kirs-
tine died were in fact a violent epileptic attack that brought an end to four-
teen years of illness?
Rad. Valerianæ
Stray remarks and sporadic incidents cannot in themselves prove that Kier-
kegaard was an epileptic, but as the only evidence of his abnormal physical
condition they cannot be ignored, either. It ought to be considered whether
his oft-expressed wish to avoid involving others in these painful episodes
should be regarded as indirect evidence that here we have, so to speak,
come face-to-face with the hieroglyphs constituting Kierkegaard’s “secret
note.” In any event, however, it is quite understandable that Kierkegaard
wanted the matter treated with a certain amount of discretion. Epilepsy was
seen as shameful and led to both legal and social condemnation. Accord-
ingly, under the category “causes for which those who are betrothed may
be separated,” the Danish Law of King Christian the Fifth from 1683 pro-
claims the following: “If anyone prior to a betrothal had any concealed
sickness, such as leprosy, the falling sickness, or any other such contagious
or abominable illness, and did not reveal it, then he, or she, may be quit of
the other, if they desire it. But if such a sickness or other ailment comes
after the betrothal, then a certain amount of time will be set during which
one can seek advice as to whether the sick person can be helped; if that
person cannot be helped, then the betrothal may be annulled if desired.”