A Dedication*
*) Because of circumstances, the name in this dedication cannot / yet
be added; but even so, it must nonetheless / be granted its place now.Or, better:
With this book, an authorial activity, / which belongs to her to a
certain extent, / is dedicated to R. S. / by someone who belongs to
her entirely.Or, rather:
With this little book, the / entire authorial activity / is dedicated, / as
it was from the beginning, / to a contemporary / whose name must
not yet be mentioned, but which / history will name, for however /
long or short a period it may be, / as long as it names my name.Kierkegaard went on for quite a while longer than this, but then the final
version turned up:
With this little book, the entire / authorial activity / is dedicated, / as
it was from the beginning, / to an unnamed person / whose name will
one day be named.Kierkegaard most often had dedication copies of his works bound in white
moire ́or in shiny black paper covers and with gilt-edged pages, but the
copies for Regine were the most sumptuous, printed as they were on very
special paper—heavy vellum—as was the case with thePostscript, for exam-
ple, which was bound in brown velvet and richly decorated with gold on
the spine and the covers.
Regine never received her gift. It was simply put away in the shelfless
mahogany cabinet.
A Theological Village Idiot
Both books, theTwo DiscoursesandOn My Wor kas an Author, were re-
viewed inFlyve-Postenon August 7, 1851, the very day they were published.
The anonymous reviewer, who flatteringly referred to the author as “highly
gifted,” drew the perhaps not unreasonable conclusion that Kierkegaard
“now regards his work as an author as essentially concluded.” This was
apparently not the case: “That is very amusing! I must have a friend, a
benefactor, who has an interest—who has perhaps had this interest for quite
a long time—in seeing that I stop being a writer pretty damned soon!”