A strange combination of witty cosmopolitan and melancholy introvert, Soren Kierkegaard (1813-55) was the archetypal visionary at odds with an unappreciative world. He had a tragic love affair with a young girl, was dominated by father, fought a literary duel with a popular satiric magazine, and died in the midst of a quarrel with the state church. Yet this iconoclast produced a number of brilliant books that have profoundly influenced modern thought, including Fear and Trembling. In this 1942 biography, Walter Lowrie introduces this essential Danish writer, and he includes his wry essay on how he became one of his foremost translators.