ABSTRACT
Of all the contemporary accounts of Søren Kierkegaard as a human being and a person, the philosopher Hans Brøchner’s (1820-75) “Recollections of Kierkegaard,” written between December 27, 1871 and January 10, 1872, is the most extensive and at the same time an account that presumably gives a better insight behind the façade than any of the many other scattered recollections from the time. Without Brøchner’s recollections we would today have far less knowledge about the person Søren Kierkegaard than is the case. The prose Brøchner uses in his scholarly works is heavy and long-winded, and, stamped as it is by Hegelian philosophy, the level of abstraction is high; his systematic works are almost impenetrable for the modern reader. But in his letters and diaries, and especially in his account of Kierkegaard, he shows himself to be a lively storyteller, who is able to give a clearly defined and tender portrait of a man whom he loved and admired.1
