Søren Kierkegaard hoaxed: dynamics of disparity and fictionality in the <i>Corsair</i> affair

Abstract This article examines how fictionality shaped the so-called “Corsair affair” between Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard and Corsaren , the most feared satirical weekly in Denmark in the mid-1800s. While the controversy’s sad aftermath for Kierkegaard has been studied in established Kierkegaard research, the techniques, devices, and dynamics of the scandal have received scant attention. This study argues that fictionality makes the Corsaren feud a scandal of a special kind. After Kierkegaard’s request to be mocked in Corsaren , the weekly hoaxed Kierkegaard by falsely inscribing texts to his pseudonyms and attributing his writings to incorrect authors, like new pseudonyms devised by Corsaren . Drawing on the rhetoric of fictionality, this study argues that Corsaren ’s hoaxes signaled their inventedness. Both Kierkegaard’s pseudonymity and Corsaren ’s fictional hoaxes involve a notion of pretense. However, the scandal escalated due to certain differences between the parties. Those differences are referred to as “disparities,” as they are significant to the dynamics of the scandal and deal with the unfair purposes of the parties. One of the main disparities concerns Corsaren ’s caricatures. They targeted Kierkegaard’s outward appearance, and further on, prompted public outrage. By hoaxing, Corsaren questioned Kierkegaard’s pseudonymous method, as the pseudonyms varied between literary characters and mouthpieces for Kierkegaard’s thoughts. Corsaren ’s case shows that fictionality, as an interplay between pretense and signaling, works as an indirect means of communication.