The Sickness Unto Death

The "greatest psychologist of the spirit since St. Augustine" (Gregory R. Beabout), Soren Kierkegaard is renowned for such richly imagined philosophical works as Fear and Trembling and The Concept of Anxiety. Yet only The Sickness unto Death condenses his most essential ideas-on aesthetics, ethics, and religion-into a single volume.

First published in 1849 under the pseudonym Anti-Climacus, The Sickness unto Death is as demanding as it is concise, posing fundamental yet complicated questions about human nature and the self. Beginning with the biblical story of Lazarus, whom Jesus miraculously raised from the dead, The Sickness unto Death identifies the titular "sickness" as "despair," a state worse than death because it is "unto" death. As Kierkegaard demonstrates, despair-or, in Christian categories, "sin"-is a sickness not of the body, but of the spirit, and thus, of the self.

A dramatic "medical history" of the course of this sickness, The Sickness unto Death culminates, as all medical histories do, in a crisis, a turning point at which the self, the patient, either realizes or abandons itself. Given the choice between eternal salvation and extinction, Kierkegaard calls upon the self to become receptive in faith to God's mercy, "even today, even at this hour, even at this instant."

With his "historian's eye" (Vanessa Parks Rumble) and "lucid and informative" (George Pattison) introduction, Bruce H. Kirmmse deftly situates The Sickness unto Death in the historical context of the European revolutions of 1848, reminding us that even Kierkegaard was a product of his time and place. Yet as Kirmmse ultimately shows, The Sickness unto Death is as apt for our times as for mid-nineteenth-century Europe, speaking to the human soul across generations and centuries.

Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) was a Danish philosopher and theologian whose work has been widely recognized as foundational both to modern psychology and existentialism. A professor emeritus at Connecticut College, Bruce H. Kirmmse has published several books and numerous articles on Kierkegaard and is general editor of Kierkegaard’s Journals and Notebooks. He lives in Randolph, New Hampshire, and Copenhagen, Denmark.

"Bruce H. Kirmmse's new translation of The Sickness unto Death is relevant and yet grounded, readable and yet precise, faithful to the Danish and yet flexible enough to meet us where we find ourselves. It is a stunning accomplishment." --J. Aaron Simmons, author of God and the Other "The Sickness unto Death is Kierkegaard's masterpiece of the human self, awakening us to our self-deceptions and challenging us toward authentic freedom. . . . Bruce H. Kirmmse's new translation--brisk, readable, accurate--makes fresh a diagnosis of the spirit needed in our time." --Gregory R. Beabout, author of Freedom and Its Misuses "Bruce H. Kirmmse conveys the vigor and lucidity of Kierkegaard's original text as it persuasively guides us to the paradoxical message of hope that emerges from the Dane's unequalled analysis of despair." --George Pattison, author of Kierkegaard and the Quest for the Unambiguous Life "Bruce H. Kirmmse is among the very best translators of Kierkegaard working today, and he is a well-respected historian of Kierkegaard's oeuvre and of nineteenth-century Danish society in general. Whether one is looking to get reacquainted with The Sickness unto Death or even to pick up Kierkegaard for the first time, this book is a great place to start." --Christopher B. Barnett, author of Kierkegaard and the Question Concerning Technology

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