Publication at Faculty of Humanities |
2013
Abstract
The chapter is devoted to Kierkegaard’s portrayal of desire in the famous Seducer’s Diary. The interpretation distinguishes between two notions of seduction - that of Don Juan as the “master-figure” (in Hegel’s terminology of the Phenomenology of Spirit) and Johannes of the Seducer’s Diary as a different figure of a seducer who adopts the “servant’s” role.
As such, he works, withholding his pleasure and by doing so he gives form to the object of his desire, to Cordelia. Eventually, Cordelia acquires true freedom which she uses to carry out the negative work of self-denial, in which she acknowledges Johannes as the true “master-consciousness” and in doing so arranges for Johanes’ true pleasure.