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A review by _myliteraryobsession
The Seducer's Diary (Great Loves, #6) by Søren Kierkegaard
2.0
Although I found this book oddly fascinating I can't say that I warmed to it as much as other readers have. Supposedly The Seducer's Diary is a fictionalization of Kierkegaard's own dysfunctional, short-lived love affair with Regine Olsen.
The narrator is a self-confessed scoundrel and Kierkegaard encourages the reader to dislike him from the get-go. The plot centres around his fascination with the much younger, beautiful and mysterious Cordelia. Fancying himself in love with her, (although his intentions are not altogether pure), he goes out of his way to seduce Cordelia, going so far as to ask for her hand in marriage and to profess his love via a multitude of lovelorn letters and poetic proclamations.
The narrator loves the thrill of the chase and in a very predictable fashion, once Cordelia's affections have been won his enthusiasm wanes. He ultimately decides that they are better off without one another and breaks off the engagement.
In truth the history surrounding Kierkegaard and Regine Olsen is much more dramatic than this piece of fiction. According to literary critics, Kierkegaard wrote The Seducer's Diary in the hopes that Regine would read it and move on from their broken engagement believing the narrator to be an exact replica of himself. However it is believed that Kierkegaard was equally, if not more traumatised by their split than Regine was.
An interesting read nonetheless, but nothing particularly outstanding.
The narrator is a self-confessed scoundrel and Kierkegaard encourages the reader to dislike him from the get-go. The plot centres around his fascination with the much younger, beautiful and mysterious Cordelia. Fancying himself in love with her, (although his intentions are not altogether pure), he goes out of his way to seduce Cordelia, going so far as to ask for her hand in marriage and to profess his love via a multitude of lovelorn letters and poetic proclamations.
The narrator loves the thrill of the chase and in a very predictable fashion, once Cordelia's affections have been won his enthusiasm wanes. He ultimately decides that they are better off without one another and breaks off the engagement.
In truth the history surrounding Kierkegaard and Regine Olsen is much more dramatic than this piece of fiction. According to literary critics, Kierkegaard wrote The Seducer's Diary in the hopes that Regine would read it and move on from their broken engagement believing the narrator to be an exact replica of himself. However it is believed that Kierkegaard was equally, if not more traumatised by their split than Regine was.
An interesting read nonetheless, but nothing particularly outstanding.