A literary review : Two ages, a novel by the author of A story of everyday life, published by J.L. Heiberg, Copenhagen, Reitzel, 1845

While ostensibly commenting on the work of a contemporary novelist, Kierkegaard used this review as a critique of his society and age. The influence of this short piece has been far-reaching. The apocalyptic final sections are the source for central notions in Heidegger's __Being and Time__. Later readers have seized on the essay as a prophetic analysis of our own time. Its concepts have been drawn into current debates on identity, addiction, and social conformity.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. Ostensibly a critique of a contemporary novel, A Literary Review is seen by many as remarkably prophetic of our own times, and its apocalyptic final sections inspired central ideas in Heidegger's Being and Time. Two Ages, the novel under review, tells the story of a family whose fortunes span the immediate post-Revolutionary Age, a period characterized by honour, loyalty and passion, and the advent of Modernity, where a rational dull conformity prevails. Kierkegaard used the review to present a devastating analysis of his own society, in which identities were being lost and ideals displaced by an all-consuming envy. He foresaw that the outcome of this process would be to confront people with a stark choice between an empty existence and devotion to God. After four intensive years, during which he wrote some of his best-known works, including Either/Or, Kierkegaard intended A Literary Review to be his last work. Instead it opened up a new stage in his career which was marked by an even more stringent condemnation of respectable society, the established Church and spiritual complacency. The Review's central insights remain just as relevant to our own age of nihilism, drug-addiction, high fashion and media hype. While ostensibly commenting on the work of a contemporary novelist, Kierkegaard used this review as a critique of his society and age. The influence of this short piece has been far-reaching. The apocalyptic final sections are the source for central notions in Heidegger's Being and Time . Later readers have seized on the essay as a prophetic analysis of our own time. Its concepts have been drawn into current debates on identity, addiction, and social conformity. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Ostensibly, A Literary Review is a straightforward commentary by S&oslashren Kierkegaard on the work of a contemporary novelist. On deeper levels, however, it becomes the existential philosopher's far-reaching critique of his society and age, and its apocalyptic final sections inspired the central ideas in Martin Heiddeger's influential work Being and Time. Embraced by many readers as prophetic, A Literary Review and its concepts remain relevant to our current debates on identity, addiction, and social conformity.

Ostensibly, A Literary Review is a straightforward commentary by Søren Kierkegaard on the work of a contemporary novelist. On deeper levels, however, it becomes the existential philosopher's far-reaching critique of his society and age, and its apocalyptic final sections inspired the central ideas in Martin Heiddeger's influential work Being and Time. Embraced by many readers as prophetic, A Literary Review and its concepts remain relevant to our current debates on identity, addiction, and social conformity