Walker Percy (post 2): What do novelists have in common with pseudonymous, existentialist, philosopher Soren Kierkegaard?

“…Soren Kierkegaard, perhaps the greatest single intellectual influence in his life…” (1, p. 174).

1. Jay Tolson. Pilgrim in the Ruins: A Life of Walker Percy. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1992.

What interests me about Kierkegaard was his extensive use of pseudonyms. Did it indicate that he had multiple personality? Or was it just an early 19th century rhetorical device? Or both? Did his interest to novelists have anything to do with his use of pseudonyms and their relationship with multiple personality? (Search “pseudonyms” in this blog for previous discussions.)

According to Wikipedia:

“Kierkegaard [1813-1855] has also had a considerable influence on 20th-century literature. Figures deeply influenced by his work include W. H. Auden, Jorge Luis Borges, Don DeLillo, Hermann Hesse, Franz Kafka, David Lodge, Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy, Rainer Maria Rilke, J.D. Salinger and John Updike…

“Kierkegaard's early work was written under various pseudonyms that he used to present distinctive viewpoints and to interact with each other in complex dialogue. He explored particularly complex problems from different viewpoints, each under a different pseudonym…

“Kierkegaard published some of his works using pseudonyms and for others he signed his own name as author…Pseudonyms were used often in the early 19th century as a means of representing viewpoints other than the author's own…

“Kierkegaard's most important pseudonyms, in chronological order, were:

Victor Eremita, editor of Either/Or

A, writer of many articles in Either/Or

Judge William, author of rebuttals to A in Either/Or

Johannes de silentio, author of Fear and Trembling

Constantine Constantius, author of the first half of Repetition

Young Man, author of the second half of Repetition

Vigilius Haufniensis, author of The Concept of Anxiety

Nicolaus Notabene, author of Prefaces

Hilarius Bookbinder, editor of Stages on Life's Way

Johannes Climacus, author of Philosophical Fragments and Concluding Unscientific Postscript

Inter et Inter, author of The Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an Actress

H.H., author of Two Minor Ethical-Religious Essays

Anti-Climacus, author of The Sickness Unto Death and Practice in Christianity. “