Thursday 23 July 2009

More on Kierkegaard

In the last post, I mentioned the unclear situation that still exists with regard to the English translation of Kierkegaard's writings. There appear to be two concurrent projects, one of which, by now virtually complete, is the 26-volume Princeton University Press series of translations by Howard and Edna Hong. The other, which is advertised as a complete edition of all the philosopher's writings, to be completed (published?) this year initially in the Danish original only by the Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre (SKC) at the University of Copenhagen, will comprise 55 volumes: 28 text volumes and 27 commentary volumes. The Centre's website states that

With its 55 volumes, to be completed by 2009, this is the largest comprehensive edition of Danish literature in a century, if not in all of Danish history.

This Danish edition will subsequently be translated into English, German, French, Spanish, and Chinese.

An electronic version will also be established, containing not only the full printed version, but also the collected drafts for published and unpublished works, as well as the second edition of works, which were published by Kierkegaard himself. The first electronic version was published on the web in 2007.
The site does not give a list of translators, however, and although there is copious information on scholars, researchers and other academic Kierkegaard specialists, there does not appear to be much regarding the principles underlying the translations themselves, or on how these new versions differ from those of the Hongs and earlier Kierkegaard translators.

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