head,” who could “push a matter to its logical conclusion.” Indeed, Lind-
bergwas“amanofsomanyremarkable talents”that“asanallyheisagreat
advantage, and as an opponent he can always make the battle difficult—but
also enjoyable, because he is such an experienced fencer.” Kierkegaard was
not one to bandy about superlatives lightly, so his praise of Lindberg was
not simply hot air but was heartfelt and not without cost to Kierkegaard
himself. This line, in particular, must have been profoundly irritating for
Mynster to read: “I have never been able to detect anything sophistical in
the manner in which Lindberg argues.” In Mynster’s view it was precisely
themannerinwhichLindbergbattledforthetruththatmadehimsointracta-
ble—it was altogether too wild, too direct, too radical.
In that respect it was almost indistinguishable from Søren Aabye Kierke-
gaard’s one-man revolution of 1854–55.
The Black Sheep
“Søren does not see mto be studying for his exa minationsat allnow. May
God help hi mfind a good way out of all this inner fer ment and to the
salvation of his soul.” Peter Christian confided this thought to his diary in
March 1835, and for once his worries were fully justified. It goes without
sayingthatthereasonforthestagnationofhisyoungerbrother’sstudieswas
that the university lectures were deadly dull, but an inspection of Peter
Christian’sdiaryentriesfromthisperiodalsomakesitclearthatthesituation
in the family was not particularly conducive to scholarly work.
It began with Niels Andreas. Like his brothers, he wanted to study at the
university, but his father had other plans. The merchant removed Niels
AndreasfromtheBorgerdydSchoolandapprenticedhimtohisson-in-law,
the silk and textile dealer Johan Christian Lund, who had married Nicoline
Christine in 1824 and who was supposed to teach Niels Andreas about the
business world. Niels Andreas probably opposed this radical intervention in
his life, but his father was implacable, and that was that as far as the young
man’s future was concerned. He moved out of the family home on Nytorv
just after his fifteenth birthday. He traveled to Hamburg a couple of times
with Christian Agerskov in order to establish some business connections
there, but he was about as unlucky as his father, in his day, had been lucky.
After returning home he was stationed in Agerskov’s“Fashion and Drapery
Business” at the corner of Købmagergade and Klareboderne, but he found
it unbearable, and there were serious conflicts with the rest of his family,
especially his father. His reputation as a “jolly party fellow” probably did
not make the situation with his family any better. “His father forced him to
{1813–1834} 37