The Seducer's Diary

5 stars? Really though, I had such a hard time putting this one down I've literally spent the last five days reading the final three pages because I don't want it to end :(

It truly is a masterpiece on aesthetics and the true follies of a passionate relationship between a young man and a younger girl. Love is fleeting, as much as Søren Kierkegaard's clever character named: 'Johannes' hates to admit, he wrote an entire diary about it but with a cunnilingus, I mean cunning yet charming style that could only be pulled off in the 19th century yet so many of the affairs of the heart presented are still very true to this day. Brilliant, absolute classic. thank you penguin, yet again. If only I had met your GreatIdeas/GreatLoves series earlier show more in my life. Still...I've managed with the American canon quite well............

Kierkegaard, the witty devil he is, sneaks in his own synposis on the book he just wrote for the final sentence:
"Nevertheless, it would really be wothwhile knowing whether one couldn't poetize oneself out of a girl, whether one couldn't make her so proud that she imagined it was she who had wearied of the relationship. It could become a quite interesting epilogue, which in its own right might be of psychological interest, and besides that, enrich one with many erotic observations."

PS if you read it without the intense edge of knowing that it's based on a true story just purposely made with a more evil edge, than you may not enjoy it as much. show less

This story was just not for me. It's prose was flowery and voluminous. It takes about 12 chapters, or getting through about 30% of the book before the reader is used to the language and flow of the book. I'm going to give the author the benefit of the doubt that it was his intent for his 'hero' to sound arrogant, misogynist and superior to every one, from his peers in his story to the reader let in on his inner thoughts through his own words in his diary. As for the ending? It seemed a bit contrived and rather cowardly to me. But as I said, this story was just not for me.

3.5, es increíble la representación del hombre estético, usando manipulación para alcanzar su goce momentáneo.

Johannes! I do not call you ‘mine,’ I realize very well that you have never been. My seducer, my deceiver, my foe, my murderer, source of my unhappiness, grave of my joy, abyss of my ruin.

The seducer’s diary chapter from 4 april to 25 september.
I don’t know why, but it just did not keep my attention at all

Actually read this as a part of the Either/Or Volume I. Diary of one of the most despicable people I've come across in a literary sense.

Johannes Forførerens Dagbog er et af Søren Kierkegaards (1813-1855) mest kendte og elskede værker. Det udkom i 1843 som en del af Kierkegaards hovedværk Enten-Eller og er en fortælling om den dæmoniske Johannes’ forførelse af den unge pige Cordelia Wahl. Den berømte og berygtede dagbog, der er elsket af både mænd og kvinder, skildrer en anden forførertype end den man møder i Mozarts Don Juan som Kierkegaard har skrevet om i det musikfilosofiske essay De umiddelbare erotiske stadier eller det musikalsk-erotiske fra Enten-Eller (der i vores udgivelse har fået titlen Hør, hør, hør Mozarts Don Juan). Filosoffen Jens Staubrand har skrevet en indledning til Johannes Forførerens Dagbog, der er gennemredigeret og meget show more nænsomt bearbejdet til nudansk. show less

A purportedly found diary and letters covering a detached look at an affair. Heart versus head.