Johan Ludvig Heiberg: Kierkegaard’s Criticism of Hegel’s Danish Apologist

There can be no doubt that Johan Ludvig Heiberg (1791-1860) was a very important figure for the development of Kierkegaard’s thought. Heiberg’s criticism dominated an entire generation of literary scholarship and was profoundly influential on the young Kierkegaard. His dramatic works and translations are also frequently referred to and quoted by Kierkegaard and his pseudonyms. These are the sides of Heiberg as critic, dramatist, and poet that are generally well known to people today.