ABSTRACT
Kierkegaard’s slim book Repetition was published in 1843 on the same day as Fear and Trembling.1 Six weeks later he published a discourse on The Book of Job.2 The theme of sudden loss and wondrous restoration recurs: Abraham must release Isaac and then he gets him back; Job is stripped of his world and then he gets it back. The book Repetition alludes to Job’s yearning for his world’s return and also depicts the suffering of a young man who has lost his love and yearns for her return. These motifs provide a clue to the concept of repetition. The question posed by Repetition is whether repetition is possible, whether a world or loved one, now lost, can be restored, or more generally, whether lost time can be requited.
