Home Narrative Variation and the Mood of Freedom in Fear and Trembling
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Narrative Variation and the Mood of Freedom in Fear and Trembling

  • Alexander Jech EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: August 18, 2020
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
Author Information
Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook
From the journal Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook Volume 25 Issue 1

Abstract

Kierkegaard is famous for his use of narrative set pieces to illustrate and make vivid his ideas to his reader. Less famous is his use of narrative variation, a technique deployed twice in Fear and Trembling, in which he takes a given narrative and introduces a series of variations on the narrative to explore the possibilities of selfhood made available to the narrative’s protagonist. In this paper I explore this technique, help determine the ends it serves, and then apply this understanding to the use of the device in the text to see how it functions to advance its argument.

I would like to thank Karl Ameriks, Megan Fritts, and Claire Wolford for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

Online erschienen: 2020-08-18

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Front matter
  2. Title pages
  3. Preface
  4. Contents
  5. Articles
  6. Section 1: Problems and Perspectives in Kierkegaard’s Authorship
  7. Section 1:   Problems and Perspectives in Kierkegaard’s Authorship
  8. A Christian Art? Søren Kierkegaard’s Views on Music and Musical Performance Reconsidered
  9. Between the Two Ethics: Why Assessor Wilhelm is not a Judge
  10. Narrative Variation and the Mood of Freedom in Fear and Trembling
  11. On Fear and Trembling’s Motif of the Promise: Faith, Ethics and the Politics of Tragedy
  12. The Ambiguity of Mimesis: Kierkegaard between Aesthetic Fantasy and Religious Imitation
  13. Know Yourself in the Mirror of the Word: Kierkegaard on Self-Knowledge
  14. „Mein Bestreben, das Martyrium zu verherrlichen…“ Zur Idee des Martyriums in Kierkegaards Journalen ab 1846
  15. Section 2: Kierkegaard’s Sources and Historical Context
  16. Section 2:   Kierkegaard’s Sources and Historical Context
  17. The Faust Project in Kierkegaard’s Early Journals
  18. Of Clairvoyants and Mousvoyants: Kierkegaard’s Polemic against Speculative Philosophy in the “Telegraph Messages”
  19. Section 3: Receptions and Reflections of Kierkegaard’s Thought
  20. Section 3:   Receptions and Reflections of Kierkegaard’s Thought
  21. Does Kierkegaard’s Rewritten Parable of the Good Samaritan Leave the World to the Devil? Kierkegaard and Adorno on What it Means to Love one’s Neighbor in the Modern World
  22. Kierkegaard and Beauvoir: Existential Ethics as a Humanism
  23. Double Consciousness and Despair: Exploring a Connection Between Søren Kierkegaard and W.E.B. Du Bois
  24. Hitchcock Meets Kierkegaard: Selfhood and Gendered Forms of Despair in Vertigo and The Sickness unto Death
  25. Section 4: Kierkegaard’s Authorial Strategies
  26. Section 4:   Kierkegaard’s Authorial Strategies
  27. The Mutiny of the Pseudonyms in the Kierkegaardian Authorship
  28. Section 5: Primary Texts in Translation
  29. Section 5:   Primary Texts in Translation
  30. Johan Ludvig Heiberg’s “Literary Winter Crops” and Kierkegaard’s Polemic
  31. Back matter
  32. Abbreviations
  33. List of Contributors
https://doi.org/10.1515/kierke-2020-0003

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Front matter
  2. Title pages
  3. Preface
  4. Contents
  5. Articles
  6. Section 1: Problems and Perspectives in Kierkegaard’s Authorship
  7. Section 1:   Problems and Perspectives in Kierkegaard’s Authorship
  8. A Christian Art? Søren Kierkegaard’s Views on Music and Musical Performance Reconsidered
  9. Between the Two Ethics: Why Assessor Wilhelm is not a Judge
  10. Narrative Variation and the Mood of Freedom in Fear and Trembling
  11. On Fear and Trembling’s Motif of the Promise: Faith, Ethics and the Politics of Tragedy
  12. The Ambiguity of Mimesis: Kierkegaard between Aesthetic Fantasy and Religious Imitation
  13. Know Yourself in the Mirror of the Word: Kierkegaard on Self-Knowledge
  14. „Mein Bestreben, das Martyrium zu verherrlichen…“ Zur Idee des Martyriums in Kierkegaards Journalen ab 1846
  15. Section 2: Kierkegaard’s Sources and Historical Context
  16. Section 2:   Kierkegaard’s Sources and Historical Context
  17. The Faust Project in Kierkegaard’s Early Journals
  18. Of Clairvoyants and Mousvoyants: Kierkegaard’s Polemic against Speculative Philosophy in the “Telegraph Messages”
  19. Section 3: Receptions and Reflections of Kierkegaard’s Thought
  20. Section 3:   Receptions and Reflections of Kierkegaard’s Thought
  21. Does Kierkegaard’s Rewritten Parable of the Good Samaritan Leave the World to the Devil? Kierkegaard and Adorno on What it Means to Love one’s Neighbor in the Modern World
  22. Kierkegaard and Beauvoir: Existential Ethics as a Humanism
  23. Double Consciousness and Despair: Exploring a Connection Between Søren Kierkegaard and W.E.B. Du Bois
  24. Hitchcock Meets Kierkegaard: Selfhood and Gendered Forms of Despair in Vertigo and The Sickness unto Death
  25. Section 4: Kierkegaard’s Authorial Strategies
  26. Section 4:   Kierkegaard’s Authorial Strategies
  27. The Mutiny of the Pseudonyms in the Kierkegaardian Authorship
  28. Section 5: Primary Texts in Translation
  29. Section 5:   Primary Texts in Translation
  30. Johan Ludvig Heiberg’s “Literary Winter Crops” and Kierkegaard’s Polemic
  31. Back matter
  32. Abbreviations
  33. List of Contributors
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 9.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/kierke-2020-0003/html
Scroll to top button