Anthony Eagan is research fellow at the Santa Fe Institute.

• AcknowledgmentsSiglaOverture: The CrisisChapter 1: From the Beautiful to the Interesting: The Great GulfChapter 2: Don Giovanni as Proto-AestheteChapter 3: Antigone: The Substantially InterestingChapter 4: Shadows of Variation: The Paradox of Reflective SorrowChapter 5: ‘The Unhappiest One’ as an Interlude: Unhappiness is an Empty GraveChapter 6: The Painless Misrelation: A Glimpse at Subjectivity in Pure FormChapter 7: Novelty and Control: Doing Justice to AestheticsChapter 8: The Final Division: Voracious HermeneuticsCoda: A Most Interesting ManBibliographyIndexAbout the Author

“Kierkegaard’s Concept of the Interesting: The Aesthetic Gulf in Either/Or I—excellent and highly engaging—shows how Kierkegaard’s first book, volume one of Either/Or, sets the stage for his entire authorship through its exploration of the crisis of modernity in the ideas and character of its fictional author (named A). Anthony Eagan masterfully brings to light the unity of Either/Or I by explicating the drama of A’s increasingly desperate and ultimately futile attempts to organize his life in a satisfactory manner on the shaky foundation of the aesthetic category of the interesting. Along the way, Eagan offers insightful interpretations of such classics as Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, Goethe’s Faust, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni, which illustrate the idea of the interesting and its role in the historical development of Western humanity.”

Anthony Eagan is research fellow at the Santa Fe Institute.

• AcknowledgmentsSiglaOverture: The CrisisChapter 1: From the Beautiful to the Interesting: The Great GulfChapter 2: Don Giovanni as Proto-AestheteChapter 3: Antigone: The Substantially InterestingChapter 4: Shadows of Variation: The Paradox of Reflective SorrowChapter 5: ‘The Unhappiest One’ as an Interlude: Unhappiness is an Empty GraveChapter 6: The Painless Misrelation: A Glimpse at Subjectivity in Pure FormChapter 7: Novelty and Control: Doing Justice to AestheticsChapter 8: The Final Division: Voracious HermeneuticsCoda: A Most Interesting ManBibliographyIndexAbout the Author

“Kierkegaard’s Concept of the Interesting: The Aesthetic Gulf in Either/Or I—excellent and highly engaging—shows how Kierkegaard’s first book, volume one of Either/Or, sets the stage for his entire authorship through its exploration of the crisis of modernity in the ideas and character of its fictional author (named A). Anthony Eagan masterfully brings to light the unity of Either/Or I by explicating the drama of A’s increasingly desperate and ultimately futile attempts to organize his life in a satisfactory manner on the shaky foundation of the aesthetic category of the interesting. Along the way, Eagan offers insightful interpretations of such classics as Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, Goethe’s Faust, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni, which illustrate the idea of the interesting and its role in the historical development of Western humanity.”

Anthony Eagan is research fellow at the Santa Fe Institute.

• AcknowledgmentsSiglaOverture: The CrisisChapter 1: From the Beautiful to the Interesting: The Great GulfChapter 2: Don Giovanni as Proto-AestheteChapter 3: Antigone: The Substantially InterestingChapter 4: Shadows of Variation: The Paradox of Reflective SorrowChapter 5: ‘The Unhappiest One’ as an Interlude: Unhappiness is an Empty GraveChapter 6: The Painless Misrelation: A Glimpse at Subjectivity in Pure FormChapter 7: Novelty and Control: Doing Justice to AestheticsChapter 8: The Final Division: Voracious HermeneuticsCoda: A Most Interesting ManBibliographyIndexAbout the Author

“Kierkegaard’s Concept of the Interesting: The Aesthetic Gulf in Either/Or I—excellent and highly engaging—shows how Kierkegaard’s first book, volume one of Either/Or, sets the stage for his entire authorship through its exploration of the crisis of modernity in the ideas and character of its fictional author (named A). Anthony Eagan masterfully brings to light the unity of Either/Or I by explicating the drama of A’s increasingly desperate and ultimately futile attempts to organize his life in a satisfactory manner on the shaky foundation of the aesthetic category of the interesting. Along the way, Eagan offers insightful interpretations of such classics as Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, Goethe’s Faust, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni, which illustrate the idea of the interesting and its role in the historical development of Western humanity.”