Soren Kierkegaard

alleys.SowhenKierkegaardmovedaboutinthestreetsofCopenhagen,his
struttingwasconnectedwithhiswriting,hewaseverywhereandnowhere,
walkingthiswayandthat,conversingintimatelywitheveryone,butatthe
sametimedistantandalien.OrinGeorgBrandes’spreciseandparadoxical
formulation,hewas“theself-enclosedmanwhomeveryoneknew.”
Martensen did not grasp this and took offense. Heiberg wondered at it
andlookedtheotherway.ButforKierkegaard,the body,inallitscapricious
lopsidedness, was a vital, communicative point. The man emerged from
behind the works, thereby surrendering any claim to the authority people
wouldunconsciouslyhavegrantedhimhadhenevershownhimselfonthe
street:“An authorwhois essentiallyeducated bySocratesand theGreeks,
whograspstheironicandbeginsanenormousundertakingasawriter—he
is quite specifically opposed to becoming an authority, and to that end he
rightly sees that by continually walking in the streets he must necessarily
underminetheimpressionhemakes.”
Thisrenunciationofpowerwasconnectedtothemodeofindirectcom-
municationinwhichtheworkshadbeencreated,andKierkegaardclaimed
that he had been ideologically committed to this powerlessness starting as
earlyasthepublicationofEither/Or.Twoyearsbeforehisdeath,whenhe
took stock of his accomplishments, he gave special thanks to all the useful
“gossipmongers”withoutwhomhisintrigue-filledmaneuverswouldnever
havesucceeded:“IfIwantedtotellaboutit,anentirebookcouldbewritten
on how inventive I have been in order to deceive people about my exis-
tence. When I was proofreadingEither/Orand writing the edifying dis-
courses, I had practically no time to go walking in the street. During that
period I employed another method. Every evening, after I left home ex-
hausted and had eaten at Mini’s, I spent ten minutes at the theater—not
one minute more. Since I was known by everyone, I assumed that there
would certainly be enough gossipmongers in the theater who would then
say,‘He’satthetheatereverysingleevening,hedoesn’tdoanythingelse.’
Oh, you beloved gossipmongers, how I thank you. Without you I could
neverhaveachievedwhatIwanted....Sotherewasablessedconcordin
mysoulaboutusingthismeanstounderminetheimpressionpeoplehadof
me.”Butwhich“me,”bytheway?
Astheyearspassed,whathadbegunasacarefreestrolloutofNørreport
“with four shillings in his pocket and a slender walking stick in his hand”
thusbecameademonstrativeactwithwhichKierkegaardopposedthesnob-
bish aloofness from the concrete and ordinary world he noted among the
intellectualsofhisday:“Yes,ofcourse,Iamanaristocrat(andsoiseveryone
whoistrulyconsciousofwillingtheGood,becausetheyarealwaysfewin
number),butIwanttostandrightonthestreet,inthemidstofthepeople,