ABSTRACT
Suffering in the Life and Authorship of Søren Kierkegaard was published by Tokyo's Miraisha Press in 1976. In Chapter 1 of the book, Hashimoto investigates the inside story of Kierkegaard's own suffering, presenting the problem of Kierkegaard's melancholy. In addition to analyses, Suffering in the Life and Authorship of Søren Kierkegaard contains, as a supplement, some biographical studies and a chronology of the life of Kierkegaard. One of Hashimoto's views that deserves notice is that he recognizes the necessity of Kierkegaard's attack on Christendom in connection with his examination of suffering. It goes without saying that Hashimoto's study has some defects. For example, as Hashimoto himself admits, he carries on his discussion based on an assumption for which more evidence needs to be given, namely, that Kierkegaard's life and authorship ultimately aim at God's grace of forgiveness of sins. However, it may fairly be presumed that Hashimoto's study has had a great impact on Kierkegaard research in Japan.
