Table Of ContentTHREE DISCOURSES
ON IMAGINED OCCASIONS
KIERKEGAARD'S WRITINGS, X
THREE DISCOURSES
ON IMAGINED OCCASIONS
by Seren Kierkegaard
Edited and Translated
with Introduction and Notes by
Howard V. Hong and
Edna H. Hong
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
Copyright © 1993 by Howard V. Hong
Published by Princeton University Press,
41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW
All Rights Reserved
Seventh printing, and first paperback printing, 2009
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-691-14074-2
The Library of Congress has cataloged the cloth edition of this book as follows
Kierkegaard, Søren, 1813–1855.
[Tre taler ved toenkte leiligheder. English.]
Three discourses on imagined occasions / by Søren Kierkegaard ;
edited and translated with introduction and notes by Howard V. Hong
and Edna H. Hong.
p. cm. — (Kierkegaard’s writings ; 10)
Translation of: Tre taler ved toenkte leiligheder.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-691-03300-5 (cl)
1. Christian life—Lutheran authors. 2. God—Worship and love.
3. Marriage—Religious aspects—Christianity. 4. Death—Religious
aspects—Christianity. I. Hong, Howard Vincent, 1912– .
II. Hong, Edna Hatlestad, 1913– . III. Title.
IV. Series: Kierkegaard, Søren, 1813–1855. Works. English. 1978 ; 10.
BV4505.K48413 1993
248.4’841—dc20 92-36382
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
Preparation of this volume has been made possible in part by a grant from
the Division of Research Programs of the National Endowment
for the Humanities, an independent federal agency
Printed on acid-free paper. ∞
Designed by Frank Mahood
press.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
7 9 10 8
CONTENTS
HISTORICAl. INTRODUCTION VII
Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions
1
Preface
5
On the Occasion of a Confession
7
On the Occasion of a Wedding
41
At a Graveside
69
SuPPLEMENT 103
Key to References 104
Original Title Page of Three Discourses 011
Imagined Occasions 106
Selected Entries from Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers
Pertaining to Three Discourses on Imagiued Occasio11s 109
EDITORIAL APPENDIX 153
Acknowiedgments 155
Collation of Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions
in the Danish Editions of Kierkegaard's Collected
Works 157
Notes 159
Bibliographical Note 171
Index 173
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions was the last of Kierke
gaard's discourses in the series of signed works parallel to the
first pseudonymous series, which culminated in what he at the
time regarded as his final work, Concluding Unscientific Post
script to Philosophical Fragments, with an appended acknowl
edgment of the pseudonymous writings. The publication dates
of the various discourses were always close to the dates of the
pseudonymous works, in one instance (Three Upbuilding Dis
courses and Repetition) on the same day, and Three Discourses
on Imagined Occasions was followed the next day by Stages on
L~fo's Way.
Pseudonymous Signed
1843 1843
Feb. 20 Either/Or, I-II
ed. Victor Eremita
May 16 Tu'o Upbuildh1g
Discourses
Oct. 16 Repetition Oct. 16 Three Upbuilding
by Constantin Discourses
Constantius
Oct. 16 Fear and Trembling
by Johannes
de Silentio
Dec. 6 Four Upbuilding
Discourses
1844 1844
March 5 Two Upbuilding
Discourses
June 8 Time Uphuilding
Discourses
viii Historical Introduction
June 13 Philosophical
Fragments by
Johannes Climacus
ed. S. Kierkegaard
June 17 The Concept of
Anxiety
by Vigilius
Haufniensis
June 17 Prefaces
by Nicolaus
Nota bene
Aug. 31 Four Upbuildiug
Discourses
1845 1845
April29 Three Discourses
on Imagined Occasions
April 30 Stages otl Life's Way
pub. by
Hilarius Bookbinder
May
19-20 "A Cursory Obser
vation Concerning a
Detail in Don
Giovanni"
by Inter et Inter
1846 1846
Feb. 27 Concluding Unscientific Postscript
by Johannes Climacus, with the appended
"A First and Last Explanation"
by S. Kierkegaard
In the latter half of 1844, while he was finishing the writing of
Stages, t Kierkegaard worked also on a volume of six discourses
on imagined occasions, 2 as well as on a "new science," "the
Christian art of speaking, to be constructed ad modum [in the
1 The instructions to the printer are dated "January 1845." See Pap. VI B 8:2.
2 See Supplement, p. 126 (Pap. VI B 138).
Historical Introduction ix
manner of] Aristotle's Rhetoric. "3 This work, however, was
laid aside temporarily because it would be "too discursive to
serve as a kind of introduction to my few discourses. "4 His
thinking on the subject took preliminary form in a pieces by
Johannes de Silentio (pseudonymous author of Fear and Trem
bling) to serve as a preface to the discourses currently in prepa
ration. How tentative this plan was is apparent in the stipula
tion that Silentio's preface was "not to be bound into the
volume. "6
Kierkegaard had the seeds of more than six discourses in
mind. Among them were a discourse on death, 7 three on Pe
ter's denial of Christ, 8 three on the Canaanite woman, 9 and
two on suffering as guilty or innocent,10 as well as funeral
addresses for the king's deceased valet11 and for the prophetess
Anna.12 Eventually the multitude was reduced to the three13
that constitute the present volume of occasional discourses.
"Occasional" obviously does not mean "occurring now and
then" but refers to an occasion as a specific event and situation.
Johannes de Silentio, in the proposed preface to the occasional
discourses, asserts: "In actual occasional discourses some things
cannot very well be said because of the presence of the specific
persons before one. Therefore the reverse is done here: the
stated individualities are created by the discourse"14-hence
the imagined occasions. This view is later echoed and ampli
fied in the preface to Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits, of
which Part One is "On the Occasion of a Confession":
J See Supplement, p. 110 (Pap. VI A 17) and pp. 110-11 (Pap. VI A 1, 18-
19, 33).
4 See Supplement, p. 112 (Pap. VI B 132).
s See Supplement, pp. 117-25 (Pap. VI B 128-31, 133).
6 See Supplement, pp. 117-18, 119-25 (Pap. VI B 128, 133).
7 See Supplement, pp. 109 (Pap. VA 36).
8 See Supplement, pp. 114-15 (Pap. VI B 166, 168).
9 See Supplement, p. 115 (Pap. VI B 167).
10 See Supplement, p. 115-16 (Pap. VI B 169-70).
11 See Supplement, p. 112 (Pap. VI B 149).
12 See Supplement, p. 113 (Pap. VI B 153).
13 See Supplement, pp. 126, 127 (Pap. VI B 100, 125:1).
14 See Supplement, pp. 117-18 (Pap. VI B 128).
