Arnošt Kraus on A.G. Meissner and Kierkegaard’s <i>Fear and Trembling</i>

Abstract

The article deals with the question of a potential connection between August Gottlieb Meißner’s short story “Mord aus Schwärmerey” (Murder out of Zealotry), also known as “Die geopferten Kinder” (The Sacrificed Children), and Søren Kierkegaard’s work Frygt og Bæven (Fear and Trembling). In 1938 the Czech scholar of German and Scandinavian studies Arnošt Kraus put forward in the journal Danske studier the hypothesis that Kierkegaard might have been influenced by Meißner’s story. The present article explicates Kraus’s argumentation and assesses its possible validity.

Keywords

• arnošt kraus
• august gottlieb meissner
• søren kierkegaard
• frygt og bæven
• fear and trembling
• german literature
• danish literature
• danish philosophy
• crime story
• crime fiction