ABSTRACT
Albert Anderson’s book is really more of a review of Soren Kierkegaard’s works than his life. Other than very brief accounts of Kierkegaard’s father, Regine Olsen, and his collapse in the streets of Denmark, Anderson glosses over Kierkegaard’s biography to focus on his authorship. From the outset, Anderson attempts to establish the importance of Socrates for Kierkegaard’s work, which is particularly evident by Socrates’ continual presence throughout Anderson’s book. While Anderson analyzes Kierkegaard’s writings mostly through the lens of the three stages (esthetic, ethical, and religious), he is able to provide a great deal of nuance about these stages in this very brief work. The lack of citation is noticeably distracting to the academic who wishes that he or she could confirm or corroborate what Anderson is saying. While it does make the text easier to read, it may be frustrating for those wanting to do any follow up reading of Kierkegaard for themselves.
