Kierkegaard, Schumann, and the Musical-Religious: An Approach to Literary Polyvocality

In this paper, I examine Kierkegaard’s use of polyvocal pseudonymity—the creation of multiple different authorial personae—in light of similar literary projects undertaken at roughly the same time by J. L. Heiberg and Robert Schumann. I argue that, despite the historical connections between Heiberg and Kierkegaard and their shared city and culture, Kierkegaardian polyvocality is better understood as akin to Schumann’s polyvocal pseudonymous music criticism. While Heiberg employs pseudonymity largely to instantiate distance between reader and author, Schumann’s pseudonymity appears as a response to the inability of language to describe or present music. Despite the authorial distance evident in parts of the Kierkegaardian authorship, I argue that Schumann’s understanding and use of polyvocal pseudonymity are a much better fit with Kierkegaard’s usage—and offer readers a literary entry point into discussions of both music and faith.