                           19971212.00

     Victor Eremita found it was necessary to break open the once
adored and admired "secretarien" with a hatchet in order to
discover the rich lode of A and B's compositions. For Kierkegaard
himself the rupture of his engagement with Regine Olsen, may have
been, - and so I have always interpreted it, - the prerequisite
to his discovery within himself of that wealth of inspiration
which we now revere as his Samlede Vaerker. And although it is
comical to beg Tilgivelse of a desk, the Tilgivelse that the
future author of Kjerlighedens Gjerninger (Der Liebe Tun, Works
of Love) must have begged in his heart of Regine Olsen is to this
humorous text that shadow of tragedy and despair by which we
distinguish comedy from farce.

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