you can smell; that you can taste; that you can feel; that the sun shines for
you—and for your sake; that when it becomes tired, the moon takes over,
and then the stars are lit; that winter comes, and all of nature disguises itself,
pretending to be a stranger—and does so in order to please you; that spring
comes, and the birds come in great flocks—and do so to bring you joy; that
the green leaves bud forth; that the forest grows into such beauty, standing
there like a bride—and does so in order to bring you joy; that autumn
comes, and the birds depart, not to be coy, oh, no, but so that you do not
become bored with them; that the forest conceals its finery so that the next
time you will take joy in it.”
This was how Kierkegaard wrote in the books he held out to his readers
with his right hand. The hand nearest the heart.
To Publish or Not to Publish
“Nothing exhausts me so terribly as negative decisions, ”Kierkegaard com-
plained in the early summer of 1848, when he was just about to publish
The Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an Actress—but onlyjust aboutto do so.
For, once again, he had experienced “great masses of reflection suddenly
gathering into huge snowdrifts in which I could almost perish”—this de-
spite his resolve and despite the time of year! To publish or not to publish,
that was the question; and Kierkegaard had no clue of what to do, which
was of course absurd: “There is something wrong here, when after consid-
eration, something insignificant in itself can truly take on such terrible real-
ity. It is a sign that reflection has become sick. When this happens, action
must be taken in order to save one’s life.”
The “insignificant ”something was a piece that Kierkegaard had written
quite some time before, in early 1847, when Mrs. Heiberg once again—after
a nineteen-year intermission—performed the role of Juliet in Shakespeare’s
famous tragedy. By now this revival had itself become history, and in the
summer of 1848 Kierkegaard still hadThe Crisison his hands. He wanted
to publish it, but it seemed to him too aesthetic, and it thus provoked some-
thing like a religious crisis in an author’s life. First he listed all thepros:He
would like to delight Mrs. Heiberg while at the same time being “a little
irritating ”to her spouse, J. L. Heiberg, to whom he wanted to speak a
couple of home truths. Next there was editor Giødwad, who had so ear-
nestly requested an article for his newspaper. And finally, by publishingThe
CrisisKierkegaard might perhaps be able to counteract the notion that he
had become “holy ”and “serious ”because for quite a while he had published
nothing but religious writings. “This is a very importantproargument. But