INTERVIEW with The Danish Pioneer Newspaper: Meet Writer and Philosopher Jens Staubrand

By Linda Steffensen, The Danish Pioneer’s Editor —

2013 is the 200th anniversary of Danish author and philosopher Søren Kierkegaard’s birth. How are the Danes celebrating such a significant birthday? The Danish Pioneer Newspaper asked Jens Staubrand, a writer and philosopher from the University of Copenhagen, who specializes in the famous Dane.

Staubrand wrote his thesis on Kierkegaard and Mozart, graduating with a degree in philosophy from the University of Copenhagen in 1987, and then he began Søren Kierkegaard Kulturproduktion with his wife Vibeke Hinge Jensen to get Kierkegaard ‘pulled’ into the culture and music.

Søren Kierkegaard Kulturproduktion, which is located in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark, arranges musically accompanied readings of texts by Kierkegaard in Denmark and in other countries.

“We have previously been responsible for arrangements entitled ‘Søren Kierkegaard – Music & Readings’ in Paris, Rambouillet, Berlin, Oslo, London, Athens, Riga and Stockholm together with a whole series of similar concerts, and musically-accompanied readings in Denmark,” says Staubrand.

He adds, “We have produced the CDs: ‘Kierkegaard – set to Music’, ‘The Seducer’s Diary & Gubaidulina’, and ‘The Seducer’s Diary’ (in Greek) with music by Mozart. We have also edited, under the auspices of the Royal Danish Library, the Søren Kierkegaard International Bibliography, together with musical works and plays, based on words by Søren Kierkegaard  – and released a number of Kierkegaard books.”

Staubrand says there have been many highlights during the 200th anniversary celebration of Kierkegaard’s birth.

“We have organized and will this year organize a wide range of music accompanied reading-performances, including Kierkegaard together with Hans Christian Andersen and Kierkegaard and Bellman, and Kierkegaard and Regine Olsen,” he says.

As an author himself, Jens Staubrand has also released or will release a series of Kierkegaard books in Danish in 2013, including:

* KIERKEGAARD Marry, marry not, and other short thought-provoking texts

* KIERKEGAARD Diary of the seduction of Cordelia Wahl

* KIERKEGAARD Works of Love

* KIERKEGAARD Repetition-Repetition – Available September 3, 2013

* KIERKEGAARD Aphorisms, Essay on boredom, Essay on the mourning of three women – Available October 3, 2013.

* KIERKEGAARD In wine is truth – Available November 3, 2013

The Danish Pioneer Newspaper’s readers can learn about Søren Kierkegaard Kulturproduktion’s special “angle” on Kierkegaard by visiting the website at www.kierkegaard-kultur.dk.