D. Anthony Storm's Commentary on Kierkegaard

• An Explanation and a Little More
• En Erklæring og Lidt til
• May 9, 1845
• KW13, SKS13, Fædrelandet 1883

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This is Kierkegaard's fourth article where he denies having authored one of his works, which was part of his plan to create authorial distance. In "Public Confession", under his own name, he disavowed authoring some early pseudonymous articles from his student days. Under the pseudonym A. F. he evaluated the current theories as to the identity of the author of Either/Or in an article entitled "Who is the Author of Either/Or?". In "A Little Explanation", writing under his own name, Kierkegaard wrote briefly against the assertion that a sermon he preached on January 12, 1841 bore a striking similarity to the sermon that appears at the conclusion of Either/Or, ostensibly by the pseudonym B's friend.

Here, Kierkegaard responds to an anonymous review of Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions, in which the author attributed several of the pseudonymous works to Kierkegaard. As we have stated elsewhere, even while Kierkegaard's pseudonymity served more to orient the works than to hide the identity of the author, Kierkegaard wished to underscore the unimportance of attaching his person to any of the pseudonymous works. This methodology anticipated some 20th century authors.

If I am not the authors of these books, then the rumor is a falsehood. However, if I am the author, then I am the only one authorized to say that I am that (p. 24).

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