It is at Kierkegaard’s insights into the diffi culties and sorrows of this life that many of his readers will have started with him. Beginning with Kierkegaard in that way can work very well, whether our interest in Kierkegaard is just scholarly, or whether we are looking to Kierkegaard for wisdom that will help us to lead good lives, or both. Those sorts of insights can, for example, be found among the ‘Diapsalmata’ in the fi rst part of Either/Or (Enten–Eller), in Repetition (Gjentagelsen) and in Stages on Life’s Way (Stadier paa Livets Vei). As our reading of Kierkegaard continues, though, we may become just as interested in what.
