Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Danish philosopher considered the father of existenialism ("existence precedes essence"). The major body of his work was written within a time-span of only a few years, beginning with his remarkable Enten/Eller (Either/0r), published in 1843 when he was 30-years-old. That volume consists of a collection of writings within which is embedded the novel, Diary of a Seducer, said to be a portrait of the womanizing literary critic Peter Ludvig Møller, the philosopher's contemporary. The resulting controversy between the two ruined both their lives. Møller left Denmark and died of syphilis in Normandy at the age of 51, a forgotten man, his once promising career extinguished. The story of his life is told in the novel by the Danish writer Henrik Stangerup, published in 1989 in English as The Seducer: It is Hard to Die in Dieppe, translated by Sean Martin (London-New York: Marion Boyers). Kierkegaard, for his part, became a laughing stock as a result of a fierce personal attack published by Møller which led him to withdraw from Danish society.

The sculpture of Kierkegaard in this photograph is by Knud Nellmose (1908-97). It was completed in 1972 and erected outside of Copenhagen's Marmorkirken (The Marble Church) along with sculptures of thirteen other writers and theologians of Danish national prominence.