Repetition and Identity: On Kierkegaard's Novel Repetition

Abstract

Abstract: Repetition is one of Kierkegaard’s most important philosophical concepts. The doctrine of repetition was first proposed, illustrated in his1843novel Repetition. This autobiographical novel, written in epistolary, diary form, revolves around the theme of “love in memory” between two protagonists: a young man, whose desire for love falls into a dilemma because of his platonic reminiscence, Constantine, who attempts to resolve the dilemma based on the principle of identity from German Idealism. Both of them end up in failure. Eventually, the young man regains the unity of his own existence by following Job’s act of faith. Although Kierkegaard’s doctrine of repetition seems to have derived from the same origin as the ancient Greek theory of memory, German Idealism, it actually presents the old questionin a new way as an attempt to overcome nihilism

Key words: Kierkegaard, Repetition, repetition, identity, decision, existence

Sun Qianwen. Repetition and Identity: On Kierkegaard's Novel Repetition[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2020, 42(6): 152-162.

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