1849
Dedications and a Rebuff
Kierkegaard’s relation to the literary scene was in fact not nearly as unequiv-
ocal as he liked to portray it in his bleakest moments. Thus, for example,
when he reissuedEither/Oron May 14, 1849 (the same dayThe Lily of the
Field and the Bird of the Airappeared), he saw to it that a judicious selection
of “this country’s writers” received individual copies of the former: “I felt
it was my duty. And now I could do it, for now it was no longer possible
to form a coterie in support of a book—because of course the book is old,
its critical period is past.” Nonetheless, it was the pseudonym Victor Eremita
who sent the book to the poets. Adam Oehlenschla ̈ger and Christian
Winther had earned their gifts because Kierkegaard admired them, while
Henrik Hertz would have to be content with having received the work
because he was so amiable. It is unknown whether these three writers
thanked Kierkegaard, but the poet Jens Paludan-Mu ̈ller, whom Kierkegaard
had also remembered, thanked him the very next day for his “welcome
gift,” and he promised to study it carefully, “to the limit that my abilities
and my knowledge permit, which is not always the case when I read philo-
sophical works.” Indeed, even Carsten Hauch received a copy, and he as-
sured Kierkegaard that he had already found many “hints and allusions in
your writings that have facilitated my own spiritual development”; in fact,
if he “were put in solitary confinement and were permitted to choose only
a single book to keep me company in my solitude,” he might well choose
Either/Or“because in it I would find so much material to reflect upon that
my time would hardly pass without spiritual progress.” (On the same day,
May 14, 1849, Hauch himself had publishedThe Sisters on Fir Tree Mountain,
subsequently performed a number of times at the Royal Theater, but Kier-
kegaard found it “botched in every respect” because Hauch had “confused
his categories.”) Even though the way he had been put in his place by Kier-
kegaard some years earlier had left Hans Christian Andersen with little to
be thankful for, he responded with a remarkably unostentatious and sponta-
neous delight all the same: “Dear Mr. Kierkegaard! You have given me truly
great joy by sending me yourEither/Or! I was very surprised, as you can574