Becoming Human: Kierkegaardian Reflections on Ethical Models in Literature

What does it mean to become a human being? This question was persistently repeated by Kierkegaard scholar Howard V. Hong (1912-2010) to students during his forty-year tenure at St. Olaf College. Jamie Lorentzen never forgot the question--one that always pointed to the ethical upbuilding of individuals. Lorentzens Kierkegaard studies inform commentary on how central characters in four works of literature help readers answer Howard Hongs question. Twains Huck Finn becomes human by being an unwitting ethicist despite himself and the pro-slavery culture in which he was reared. Ishmael and Queequegs embrace of the neighbor and outcast in Melvilles MOBY-DICK is an ethical counterpoint to Ahabs terrifying narcissism. Meanwhile, Ibsens famous narcissist, Peer Gynt, offers an archetypal negative ethical model for becoming human. Finally, Dostoevskys Father Zosima and Ivan and Alyosha Karamazov show how ethics informs human development in both secular and religious cultures.

Jamie Lorentzen chairs the Friends of the Hong Kierkegaard Library. He is the author of KIERKEGAARD'S METAPHORS and SOBER CANNIBALS, DRUNKEN CHRISTIANS: MELVILLE, KIERKEGAARD, AND TRAGIC OPTIMISM IN POLARIZED WORLD, and is the editor of TOWARD THE FINAL CROSSROADS: A FESTSCHRIFT FOR HOWARD AND EDNA HONG.