The first masterpiece of a masterful thinker...

Either/Or: A Fragment of Life is the first work of Soren Kierkegaard; a Danish philosopher known for his work in moral philosophy and ethics. The book was originally released in two volumes but apparently for the benefit of the reader, the editor of this particular edition consolidates the two volumes into one concise abridgement.

I read this particular edition over last summer but have not read the original two volume set so I'm afraid I can't comment on how well the abridgement does to exemplify all which is commented on by Kierkegaard in his original work. However, knowing that Kierkegaard was a prolific writer who was extremely difficult to translate into English I can assume, by my opinion, that this version does a decent job carrying on Kierkegaard's creative writing and by its length, when compared to the original work, couldn't have taken much out of it's original context. Everything seemed in good order and having one book rather than multiple volumes is always a convenience.

Now, as for content, Either/Or introduces its reader with a series of issues and philosophical points that Kierkegaard will continue to comment on throughout the rest of his works. The main issue in this particular book is the conflict between living a life focused in aesthetics (pertaining to art and beauty; secular) and living a life comprised of moral ideals. Kierkegaard writes through a series of short stories under different aliases (a trait he carries through most of his works) that provide different examples of both the aesthetic and moral life. These aliases provide a sort of personification towards Kierkegaard's own inner conflicts and multiplicity which may appeal to our own inner disposition. It also serves as sort of a blanket for Kierkegaard to introduce ideas that he may not particularly believe and leaves the reader somewhat confused as to where Kierkegaard's mind begins and ends.

Kierkegaard essentially leaves the open-ended question of "which is better? a life of aestheticism or a life of morals" and he leaves the answer to us.