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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
I enjoy Kierkegaard's writing and ideas very much, and this book was delightful to read. The diary of a seducer is the story of a creator, so to say, of magnific situations: it is narrated in first person, from Johan's jornal entries. He seems to have fallen in love with a young girl, Cordelia, and does everything to seduce her: lies, artifices, he plans, he manipulates, he creates her. In fact, he is hardly interested in getting to know her - not at all - or in loving in a traditional sense, in a way that means accepting each other, rather, he wants to create a unique, aesthetic event in her life, a kind of love that is beyond passion and truth, something in the field of the beautiful only.
However, before pronouncing myself on Kierkegaard's study on aesthetics in love and sacrificing the moral to the interesting, I want to read more of his work Either/or.
However, before pronouncing myself on Kierkegaard's study on aesthetics in love and sacrificing the moral to the interesting, I want to read more of his work Either/or.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Normally this is the sort of topic that would turn me off a book completely, the calculated and thought out seduction of a young woman who is ultimately going to be disposed of when she is no longer useful to the seducer, is not something I would choose to read about time and time again, but I decided to give it a go to try and get through some of my physical tbr.
And while the plot of this story is very simple, it is the seduction and ultimate betrayal of a young woman called Cordelia, the way it is written is what draws you in. The writing is quite luscious in a way I wasn’t expecting and it made it a bit easier to get through the story itself.
All in all, for my first foray into the world of Kierkegaard, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
And while the plot of this story is very simple, it is the seduction and ultimate betrayal of a young woman called Cordelia, the way it is written is what draws you in. The writing is quite luscious in a way I wasn’t expecting and it made it a bit easier to get through the story itself.
All in all, for my first foray into the world of Kierkegaard, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
the seducer or the seducee?
not with Cordelia but with the image of Cordelia
I find rest in this restlessness. The motion of the waves lulls me;
how enjoyable to be in motion within oneself.
“My”—what does the word designate? Not what belongs to me, but what I belong to, what contains my whole being, which is mine insofar as I belong to it. After all, my God is not the God who belongs to me, but the God to whom I belong, and the same when I say my native land, my home, my calling, my longing, my hope. If there had been no immortality before, then the thought that I am yours would break through nature’s usual course.
Your Johannes
Now I truly call you my; no external sign reminds me of my possession. —Soon I shall truly call you my. And when I hold you clasped tightly in my arms, when you enfold me in your embrace, then we shall need no ring to remind us that we belong to each other, for is not this embrace a ring that is more than a symbol? And the more tightly this ring encircles us, the more inseparably it knits us together, the greater the freedom, for your freedom consists in being mine, as my freedom consists in being yours.
Soon, soon you will be mine.
What does erotic love love? Infinity. —What does erotic love fear? Boundaries.
When you command, your will come into existence, and I along with it, for I am a disarray of soul that simply awaits a word from you.
not with Cordelia but with the image of Cordelia
I find rest in this restlessness. The motion of the waves lulls me;
how enjoyable to be in motion within oneself.
“My”—what does the word designate? Not what belongs to me, but what I belong to, what contains my whole being, which is mine insofar as I belong to it. After all, my God is not the God who belongs to me, but the God to whom I belong, and the same when I say my native land, my home, my calling, my longing, my hope. If there had been no immortality before, then the thought that I am yours would break through nature’s usual course.
Your Johannes
Now I truly call you my; no external sign reminds me of my possession. —Soon I shall truly call you my. And when I hold you clasped tightly in my arms, when you enfold me in your embrace, then we shall need no ring to remind us that we belong to each other, for is not this embrace a ring that is more than a symbol? And the more tightly this ring encircles us, the more inseparably it knits us together, the greater the freedom, for your freedom consists in being mine, as my freedom consists in being yours.
Soon, soon you will be mine.
What does erotic love love? Infinity. —What does erotic love fear? Boundaries.
When you command, your will come into existence, and I along with it, for I am a disarray of soul that simply awaits a word from you.