Chinese boxes within boxes, Kierkegaard placed, inside the first letter, a
sealed envelope containing another letter, which the office director was
requested to give to Regine, “that single individual,” who then alone—
entirely alone—was to learn the contents of the letter. The exact wording
ofthelettertoSchlegelisnotknown,butthefinalinaseriesofprogressively
briefer drafts reads as follows:
Esteemed Sir:
The enclosed letter is from me (S. Kierkegaard) to—your wife. You
yourself must now decide whether or not you will pass it on to her.
For of course I cannot defend approaching her, least of all now, when
she is yours, and for that reason I have never availed myself of the
opportunity that has presented itself—that has perhaps been pre-
sented—for a number of years. It is my belief that a little information
concerning her relationship to me might be of service to her now. If
you disagree, may I ask that you return the letter unopened, but also
that you inform her of this. I have wanted to take this step—to which
I feel myself religiously obligated—and to do so in writing, because I
fear that my pronounced personality, which probably had too strong
an effect at one point, might once again have too strong an effect and
thereby be disturbing in some way.—I have the honor [of being] etc.”Apparently, the office director did not believe that information about the
relationship between the author of the letter and his wife could serve any
purpose whatever, and he therefore returned the letter unopened. And he
can hardly be blamed for having done so. Not only was he acting in accor-
dance with the express wishes of the author of the letter, he also had every
conceivable reason to be rather piqued at the remark—dialectically honed,
to be sure, but also quite unmistakably clear—to the effect that for a number
of years his wife hadpresented herselfto the author of the letter, whose pro-
nounced personality had caused a serious disturbance once already. Yes,
indeed!
It is quite understandable that Schlegel did not feel tempted to enlist in
theservice ofindirectcommunication; indeed,it isallthe moreunderstand-
able when we appreciate the grotesque constellation that Kierkegaard had
in mind. This can be seen in one of the drafts of the letter to Schlegel: “If
your reply is yes, I must stipulate in advance a couple of conditions in case
you do not see occasion to stipulate them yourself. If the exchange between
us is to take placein writing, I stipulate that no letter from me is to reach
her without having been read by you, just as I will not read any letter
from her unless it has your signature, certifying that you have read it. If the