As a spiritual autobiography, Kierkegaard's The Point of View for My Work as an Author stands among such great works as Augustine's Confessions and Newman's Apologia pro Vita Sua. Yet Point of View is neither a confession nor a defense; it is an author's story of a lifetime of writing, his understanding of the maze of greatly varied works that make up his oeuvre.

Upon the imminent publication of the second edition of Either/Or, Kierkegaard again intended to cease writing. Now was the time for a direct "report to history" on the authorship as a whole. In addition to Point of View, which was published posthumously, the present volume also contains On My Work as an Author, a contemporary substitute, and the companion piece Armed Neutrality.

Part One

A. The Equivocalness or Duplexity in the Whole Authorship, Whether the Author Is an Esthetic or a Religious Author

B. The Explanation: That the Author Is and Was a Religious Author

Part Two

THE AUTHORSHIP VIEWED AS A WHOLE, AND FROM THE POINT OF VIEW THAT THE AUTHOR IS A RELIGIOUS AUTHOR

CHAPTER I

A. The Esthetic Writing

B. Concluding Postscript

C. The Religious Writing

CHAPTER Two

The Dissimilarity of My Personal Existing Corresponding to the Dissimilar Nature of the Writing

A. Personal Existing in Relation to the Esthetic Writing

B. Personal Existing in Relation to the Rehgious Writing

CHAPTER III

Governance's Part in My Authorship

Review

"These new translations are excellent." ― Choice

"The definitive edition of the Writings. The first volume . . . indicates the scholarly value of the entire series: an introduction setting the work in the context of Kierkegaard's development; a remarkably clear translation; and concluding sections of intelligent notes." ― Library Journal

About the Author

Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian, generally recognized as the first existentialist philosopher.

Photo by Neils Christian Kierkegaard [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Howard V. Hong, the former Director of the Howard and Edna Hong Kierkegaard Library at St. Olaf College, is the General Editor of Kierkegaard's Writings. 

Edna H. Hong is a poet, writer, and translator who has collaborated with Professor Hong on other English translations of Kierkegaard's work.