Kierkegaard

A Single Life

By: Stephen Backhouse

Narrated by: Tom Parks

An accessible, expert introduction to one of the greatest minds of nineteenth century. Whether you're completely new to him, or if you're already familiar with his work, Kierkegaard: A Single Life presents a fresh understanding of his life and thought.

Kierkegaard was a brilliant and enigmatic loner whose ideas permeated culture, shaped modern Christianity, and influenced people as diverse as Franz Kafka and Martin Luther King Jr. Though few people today have read his work, that lack of familiarity with the real Kierkegaard is changing with this biography by scholar Stephen Backhouse, who clearly presents the man's mind as well as the acute sensitivity behind Kierkegaard's books.

Drawing on biographical material that has newly come to light, Kierkegaard: A Single Life introduces his many guises—the thinker, the lover, the recluse, the writer, the controversialist—in prose as compelling and fluid as a novel and pursues clarity to long-standing questions about him:

• What made this Danish theologian so controversial and influential?
• Why were so many people drawn to his books, even if they didn't understand what they were reading?
• Can his complicated relationship with the Church and religion be untangled?
• Or, for that matter, what about his complicated—at times almost paradoxical—relationship with every sphere of life from politics to poetry?

To be considered everything from a great intellect to a dandy, from a martyr to a "false messiah" is no mean feat, and this biography sheds light on Søren Kierkegaard as he was with empathy and humor.

Very good intro to Kierkegaard

Based on the objectives stated in the preface... Yep.. Mission accomplished. The narrator is excellent

Great!

Best short, contemporary biography of Kierkegaard. The summaries of SK's bibliography at the end are probably handy in the written form, but the main value of the audiobook is for the straight biographical chapters.

The in-depth research of Kierkegaard's life. very well written.

this is the first book I have read on Kierkegaard. I feel like I know a lot more about him than I did prior to reading. upon looking up other videos, it seems that all the content within external sources are all within this book.

Helpful intro to both Kierkegaard’s life and work

o the best of my memory I have never studied or read any Kierkegaard. I have heard several people commend Kierkegaard: A Single Life and when I saw it on sale on audiobook I picked it up.

This is a brief, but good overview of his life. And because Kierkegaard is important primarily for his writing, there is good context for that as well. At the end of the book, there was short descriptions of each piece (1-3 pages) which was much more helpful and interesting than I would have suspected going in.

In general I find biographies worth reading, if when I am finished, I want to either find another biography or pick up books written by the subject. I more want to read Kierkegaard than read more about him at this point. So I rate this as a helpful biography. Light, short, it feels a bit like one of the Very Short Introduction to X styled biographies. It is longer than that, about 300 pages. But this was clearly designed as an introduction.

Enjoyed it a great deal!

This book divides itself between a biography of the Kierkegaard’s life and a summation of his works. Listening to the biographer’s account of his life, especially his relationship with Regine, it struck me how… immature is the best word I can come up with, his feelings and actions were to her. He certainly seemed to have a reactionary personality. The summations of his works was really great as were those luminaries he influenced. Highly recommend.