Master Kierkegaard
Summer 1847
Ellen Brown
CASCADE Books - Eugene, Oregon
MASTER KIERKEGAARD
Summer 1847
Copyright © 2011 Ellen Brown. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.
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ISBN 13: 978-1-60899-925-5
Cataloging-in-Publication data:
Brown, Ellen Ann (1957–).
Master Kierkegaard : summer 1847 / Ellen Brown.
xii + 114 p. ; 23 cm. Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 13: 978-1-60899-925-5
1. Kierkegaard, Søren, 1813–1855. 2. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 1749–1832. Faust. 3. Bible—Reading. I. Title.
B4376 B4400 2011
Manufactured in the U.S.A.
To Elsie
“Life is extremely profound, and its governing power knows how to intrigue in a way entirely different from that of all the poets in uno.”
Constantin Constantius1
Translator’s Preface
To my reader is owed an explanation of the circumstances under which the work at hand came to light. I have a fondness for used furniture and a constant need for more bookcases. So when I learned of the death of a colleague of mine at the seminary where we both had taught, and, subsequently, the sale of a few remaining household items not taken possession of by his heirs, a mixture of affection, curiosity, and opportunism impelled me to attend.
One bookcase in particular drew my interest. A simple, almost rickety affair—weakened by much moving about the country for fellowships and teaching posts, no doubt—it held itself together by a series of crosses. Not being a woodworker, I can only give a layman’s description of its construction. Each shelf had two tabs of wood projecting from each end, and these extended through holes cut in the side panels. Likewise, each tab had a hole cut in it, and through these, square dowels had been wedged, thus securing the side panels to the shelves. This simple but ingenious portable design was barely adequate to unify the structure of the whole—it had a tendency to lean to one side or the other—without its accustomed weight of books, nearly all of which had by this time been given away, sold, or thrown out.
A single volume remained, printed in the German script known as Fraktur, a rune-like font tiresome even to native German readers, but especially trying for those coming to the language later in life. Thus the little book lay pale and neglected on the bottom shelf. Most likely, the executor of my colleague’s estate (a nephew, I believe), intimidated by the mystery of its gothic typeface, had been reluctant to merely toss it into the dumpster. The appeal of Fraktur, commissioned by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian and banned during the Third Reich, faded altogether after the Second World War. It was still much in vogue in the nineteenth century, however, which is when this modest and decaying little book, cloth-bound and sewn, is likely to have been produced. No date is given by the publisher, a house in Berlin of no particular reputation engaged in publishing authors of similar stature. The author’s family name is also withheld.
What follows is an annotated translation of that volume, containing the journals of a woman of feeling and intellect. I will not forecast her circumstances, which are both affecting and instructive, as premature disclosure would weaken their influence upon the reader. To whom this solitary and thoughtful creature may be compared in the history of female writers is a speculation I will not venture upon. Perhaps Kierkegaard himself overstated the case when he wrote that “all comparison injures. Yes, it is evil,”2 but one senses he was not far from the truth.
I would just add that our author was evidently a student of theology—informally, of course—in her own right, being an attentive reader of the Gospels as conveyed by Martin Luther. Not having access to the same editions against which to compare and correct her extracts and paraphrases, I have translated them as she gave them to us, which is, I like to think, doing justice to her, who had made them her own.
Evagrius Brooks, Th.D.
Princeton, New Jersey
Abbreviations
| BLRT | Die Bibel, oder die ganze Heilige Schrift des Alten und Neuen Testaments nach der Übersetzung Martin Luthers mit Apokryphen. Revidierter Text. Stuttgart: Württembergische Bibelanstalt, 1973 |
| CD | Church Dogmatics. Karl Barth |
| KJV | Authorized King James Version. The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments. New York: World Publishing, n.d. |
| LBVN | Die Luther-Bibel von 1534, Vollständiger Nachdruck. Biblia, das ist die ganze Heilige Schrifft Deutsch. Mart. Luth. Wittemberg. Band 2: Das Neue Testament. Köln: Taschen Verlag, 2003 |
| NAB | The New American Bible. Iowa Falls: World Publishing, 1987 |
| NovT | Novum Testamentum Graece. Nestle-Aland 27. revidierte Auflage. Herausgegeben von Barbara und Kurt Aland et al. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1993 |
1. Kierkegaard, Repetition, 183.
2. Kierkegaard, Purity of Heart, 208.
Journal One
(May 29–July 13, 1847)
May 29
I, Magda, a servant in the house of Kierkegaard, answer to the younger living son, who is my master. As I am slight of build and not raised up to do the work of a charwoman, my household duties are light, though not supervisory in nature. Mrs. H. holds the keys. I would be a mere chambermaid had my master not taken an interest in my peculiar circumstances and temperament. His inquisitiveness into these matters is most surprising for two reasons. Before coming to work here three months ago, I had heard unkind things said about him in particular, who is known to have a razor-like tongue, while the whole family, though quite wealthy, seems to have lived and died under a curse of some sort. Copenhagen is not so large and sophisticated a town as not to indulge itself in village gossip of a superstitious and petty nature. I know better than to trust entirely in such reports, therefore. More surprising is my master’s capacity for taking an interest in one such as me, not the most unfortunate of women, but fallen in rank and esteem sufficiently to have suffered rudeness and indifference from previous masters. An afflicted person (particularly an unmarried woman) becomes an easy target for those enamored of their little bit of power, but for those possessing both wealth and nobility of mind, a stinting meanness holds no appeal. He is more generous in every way than most people realize. And more kind.
My own pride and memory of my former prospects impel me to make plain the fact that I have