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S ren Kierkegaard, the nineteenth-century Danish philosopher rediscovered in the twentieth century, is a major influence in contemporary philosophy, religion, and literature. He regarded Either/Or as the beginning of his authorship, although he had published two earlier works on Hans Christian Andersen and irony. The pseudonymous volumes of Either/Or are the writings of a young man (I) and of Judge William (I). The ironical young man's papers include a collection of sardonic aphorisms; essays on Mozart, modern drama, and boredom; and The Seducer's Diary. The seeming miscellany is a reflective presentation of aspects of the either, the esthetic view of life.

Part I is an older friend's or, the ethical life of integrated, authentic personhood, elaborated in discussions of personal becoming and of marriage. The resolution of the either/or is left to the reader, for there is no Part I until the appearance of Stages on Life's Way. The poetic-reflective creations of a master stylist and imaginative impersonator, the two men write in distinctive ways appropriate to their respective positions.