{"id":5223,"date":"2022-10-26T13:55:21","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T18:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/kierkegaard\/?page_id=5223"},"modified":"2025-01-22T10:27:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T16:27:30","slug":"5223-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/kierkegaard\/5223-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"
Perpetual Teenager – An interview with Anna S\u00f6derquist, Curator of the Hong Kierkegaard Library<\/span><\/h5>\n

By Kiara Fitzpatrick ’25<\/span><\/p>\n

October 2022<\/em><\/p>\n

From an outside perspective, the decision to move from Copenhagen, Denmark to Northfield, Minnesota seems strange. What could this quaint Minnesotan college town possibly hold over the Danish capital? For Anna S\u00f6derquist, the newly appointed Curator of the Kierkegaard Library, the answer was simple: she was drawn by the proximity to the forefront of study and scholarship on S<\/span>\u00f8<\/span>ren Kierkegaard. The Kierkegaard Library has a withstanding attraction which draws like-minded scholars and faculty from across the globe to our Northfield campus. Although the power of Kierkegaard to bring international scholars to rural Minnesota is incredible in and of itself, S\u00f6derquist has been so literally moved by his work that she has relocated internationally not once, but twice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

S\u00f6derquist\u2019s childhood was a vibrant one, filled with music, dance, and art. Her father was a pianist, while her mother, hailing from Tahiti, taught ballet. Her time was split between woodsy rural Connecticut and tropical Tahiti; two unique locations which instilled in her a profound connection to nature and the natural world. Despite living most of her adult life under urban skyscapes, S\u00f6derquist has never forgotten the childhood feeling of recognizing \u201csomething divine through nature\u201d.\u00a0 Her mother\u2019s family in Tahiti was big and welcoming: doors never closed, and the train of people never stopped chugging through.\u00a0 From living in Tahiti and Connecticut, Boston, Brooklyn, Copenhagen, and finally, Northfield, S\u00f6derquist recounts the community found in each distinct locale.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Upon first moving to Boston and beginning study at Northeastern University, S\u00f6derquist experienced a crisis which many St. Olaf students recognize. Undergraduate indecision hit her head on, and there was no glimpse of relief until she took her first philosophy class. S\u00f6derquist\u2019s inclination has always been towards the human condition. Classes in social work, psychology, history, sociology began to get at the symptoms of this existence, but it wasn\u2019t until that first encounter with philosophy that her personal, deep, existential questions were addressed. From then on, she felt her path was clear.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While philosophy can be seen to present more questions than it answers, this was the first time that S\u00f6derquist\u2019s own questions were taken seriously. The fact that an entire discipline was dedicated to questioning human experience was astounding!\u00a0 And beyond that, she discovered she was not alone in these questions. One of the great draws of philosophy for S\u00f6derquist was its existence as a dialogical, living body. She holds that \u201cyou can have dialogue with millennia of other minds.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But why S<\/span>\u00f8<\/span>ren Kierkegaard? What about this Danish philosopher drew her in? S\u00f6derquist was first exposed to existentialism in her undergraduate years, and Kierkegaard was one of the initial main characters. Once introduced, she couldn\u2019t get away from him. S\u00f6derquist describes Kierkegaard\u2019s style as having a \u201csticking power.\u201d Even when she was not reading him, his written introspection and personal reflection prompted the same within her own mind. Not only was she conversing with Kierkegaard through his texts, but reading him was an immersive process. It caused her to have a reflective dialogue within herself. For S\u00f6derquist, Kierkegaard was not a choice. \u201cHe picked me,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recognized as the father of existentialism, Kierkegaard isn\u2019t known for his optimism. Existentialism, in general, is culturally viewed as a philosophy which focuses on anxiety, despair, and meaninglessness: all things that society doesn\u2019t want to focus on. On the other hand, S\u00f6derquist sees it as a genuine acknowledgement that we will all struggle over the course of our lives. While thought of dark or depressing, existential philosophy, and Kierkegaard in particular, first gesture towards problematic internal processes. S\u00f6derquist believes that \u201cbecoming conscious of self-cloaking [deceptive] tendencies is an occasion for change and growth and transformation.\u201d She recognizes that although we experience plenty of anxiety, despair, and meaninglessness, Kierkegaard\u2019s philosophy \u201csees these struggles as an opportunity for hope, vulnerability, risk, and transformation.\u201d In the face of seemingly insurmountable pain and stress, Kierkegaard encourages us to \u201ctrust that good change is possible.\u201d While jokingly referring to herself as a \u201cperpetual teenager,\u201d S\u00f6derquist is a proud existentialist.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

S\u00f6derquist first encountered the Kierkegaard Library (HKL) in 2010, when a friend from her graduate studies at the New School returned from a summer research program. On top of a weekly Kierkegaard reading group in her Brooklyn apartment, S\u00f6derquist now headed to Northfield over the next four summers to engage with the historic collection. From creating a reading group in graduate school with her New School Philosophy Department peers to participating in her neighborhood\u2019s community garden, it\u2019s easy to see where S\u00f6derquist\u2019s goals for the HKL stem from. Throughout her study of Kierkegaard, the one constant factor, regardless of academic setting or even continent, has been community. This orientation is something she brings into her new position. While the philosophical process is executed within oneself, S\u00f6derquist says she finds great value in the \u201ccommunal focus on internal processes\u201d found at the Kierkegaard Library.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite still being in her inaugural semester, S\u00f6derquist\u2019s presence is already felt on campus. Students often drop into her office for writing guidance, a Kierkegaardian clarification, or just to converse. S\u00f6derquist\u2019s office overlooks the lawn in front of Steensland Hall, while her philosophy course, aptly called \u201cKierkegaard and Existentialism,\u201d is held in the lower floor of the HKL. The ability of her students to see the magnitude of Kierkegaard\u2019s corpus and his lasting influence has a profound impact on them. Sophomore Liz Mills, a Philosophy and Ancient Studies double major, raves about S\u00f6derquist\u2019s class: \u201cProfessor S\u00f6derquist is enthusiastic about existentialism, which puts a new light on its sometimes dark content. She\u2019s so conversational, and seems to genuinely care about her students\u2019 questions and own thoughts.\u201d Mills also commented on the value of having a female professor in a male-dominated profession. She says that learning from someone with similar cultural and gender contexts is inspiring and influential to their experience as a budding philosopher.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Philosophy is often viewed by skeptics as a discipline of the past, unfit for a place on the stage of the modern world. Why should students continue to study it, and Kierkegaard in particular? Even though Kierkegaard is a two-centuries-old philosopher, S\u00f6derquist says, his works have the ability to appeal to every person. Even with his somewhat localized cultural\u00a0 understanding, Kierkegaard\u00a0 \u201creaches right down into people.\u201d No matter who you are, crises and uncertainty are innately human struggles, and he recognizes that. Despite all our flaws and shortcomings, S\u00f6derquist believes Kierkegaard \u201csees us as utterly unique creatures and beings that have something completely particular to ourselves to contribute\u201d and presents us to ourselves as such. In short, Kierkegaard gives the modern reader license to struggle and the\u00a0 \u201cresources and tools to survive being human.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These tools are even more powerful when coming from Kierkegaard himself. Besides the joy that S\u00f6derquist felt from just being able to recognize her own questions in the writing of another, she thinks there is something even more special in holding a physical primary text. In the Howard V. Hong Rare Book Room, one can find a world-renowned collection of Kierkegaard\u2019s own works, and a near-replica of his personal library. Beyond the history within the pages itself, S\u00f6derquist cherishes the unique annotations found on each historic page. They tell stories not just created in the past, but about it. S\u00f6derquist\u2019s sociological background comes into play here: these rare texts give us a \u201c rare sociological instinct into past society.\u201d They can be used to disprove ideas about Kierkegaard\u2019s readership, which S\u00f6derquist finds particularly interesting. She notes especially that through the collection and examination of previously owned and annotated texts, we can \u201cdebunk the myth that women didn\u2019t read Kierkegaard\u2019s non-pseudonymous works,\u201d which provides new insight into Danish society during his lifetime.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The HKL contains the widest linguistic range of Kierkegaard\u2019s works and a vast body of scholarly literature which analyzes it. S\u00f6derquist says the HKL contains \u201cnearly everything you might wish to read about Kierkegaard.\u201d While a scholar may be drawn to Northfield because of the library\u2019s physical resources, the securing factor is the community found within the library\u2019s walls. Not only does one encounter scholars from across the globe, S\u00f6derquist has placed a constant focus on constructive dialogue. While interacting with past thinkers, S\u00f6derquist emphasizes the dialectical relationship necessary for the continued life of such a community as the Kierkegaard Library.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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