ABSTRACT

Kierkegaard was not so much a "melancholy Dane" as much as Harold Victor Martin's compact summary of Kierkegaard's life and work is, unfortunately, a melancholy read. Historically, Martin's 1950 compendium was significant for its time when English speakers were first being initiated to Kierkegaard. Six decades later, though, in comparison to the vast array of excellent Kierkegaard introductions written since, Martin's Melancholy Dane unfortunately comes off as inexpert, anticlimactic, and dated. The Melancholy Dane begins and ends with how misunderstood Kierkegaard was in his own age yet how crucial he is to the present age. Paul Minear wrote, "Prospective students of Kierkegaard will find in Dr. Martin a helpful guide as they enter the labyrinth for the first time." The story of Harold Victor Martin's fortuitous discovery of Kierkegaard is both telling and sentimental. Martin's short and sympathetic biography of Kierkegaard is striking, though.