Chapter 2, Either/Or, A Fragment of Life Summary and Analysis

Kierkegaard leaves for Berlin after splitting with Regina Olsen. During this time, he loses himself in philosophy and attends the philosopher Schelling's lectures opposing Hegel. Along with this, he works on a strange book that he publishes under the pseudonym Victor Eremita. The book will make him famous and he writes most of the book between Berlin and Copenhagen. The book's title, Either/Or is arguably more important than the entire book, because it is the phrase that is mostly closely associated with Kierkegaard after its publication. It represents him well because he stands for decisive choices between the practical alternatives of life.

Either/Or is written to oppose the philosopher G.W.F. Hegel's idea that the historical process works out distinctions between ideas, movements and historical periods...