Parable and Paradox: Kierkegaard's Pseudonymous Works
RELI 302
Spring 2011 not offered
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| Certificates: Social, Cultural and Critical Theory |
In addition to the works written under his own name, the quasi-philosopher/quasi-theologian Soren Kierkegaard attributed a number of "his" texts to characters he had created. Each of these pseudonymous authors has a distinct personality and set of concerns, but the texts all attempt in various ways to express the inexpressible. In this class, we will read five of these works, exploring their structures (dialectical, narrative, epistolary, etc.), major philo-literary devices (repetitions, disavowals, digressions, parables, and paradoxes), and means of authorial erasure. Above all, we will ask why this body of work appears under names other than Kierkegaard's and what they had to say that couldn't be said directly. |
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Essential Capabilities:
Interpretation, Logical Reasoning
This course will track the logical twists and turns of notoriously elusive arguments.
It will also attend to the interpretive difference their pseudonymous presentation might make.
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA RELI |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (RELI)(STS) |
Major Readings:
Fear and Trembling, Repetition, Philosophical Fragments, Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Fragments, the Sickness unto Death
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Examinations and Assignments:
Five short (4-5 page) papers. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Please e-mail Professor Rubenstein at mrubenstein@wesleyan.edu , detailing your background and interest in Kierkegaard's work in particular, or in western philosophy and/or Christian theology more broadly.
This course fulfills the "Method and Theory" requirement for the Religion Department major. |
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