ABSTRACT
The title of the book, Den fromme spotteren, means The Pious Mocker, but the title does not do justice to the scope of this monograph by Trond Berg Eriksen, which is a comprehensive treatment of almost every aspect of Kierkegaard's writing. Kierkegaard is a difficult, probably impossible, subject for such an all-embracing study, due to the size and the complexity of his work, and the complexity of the person Søren Kierkegaard himself and his literary and personal strategies. The book is not an introduction; a general knowledge of both Kierkegaard's biography and his literary production is assumed. Berg Eriksen's main project appears to be that of understanding Kierkegaard in his own time and as a part of European intellectual culture. His aim is to understand Kierkegaard's self-understanding and how it shows itself in his literary strategies. He stresses repeatedly in his book the impossibility of Kierkegaard's form of Christian faith, which becomes through his works an increasingly unattainable ideal.
