The Seducer’s Diary is a brief narrative, and a short philosophical work written by the father of existentialism, the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. It follows the mental and psychological progress of its narrator, Johannes, a young man portrayed as a seducer, who is incapable of nurturing any strong or lasting emotions, and who finds meaning to his life in little adventures and fleeting loves.
Johannes is a brilliant intellectual and a careful schemer. He is ten years Cordelia’s senior. His narrative explains the web of seduction he had to spin in order to bring this young girl of seventeen to the realm of womanhood.
Johannes leaves nothing to the care of coincidence or fate. He begins his quest of Cordelia by carefully studying all the aspects of her life including friends, family, and daily schedule. His next step is to plant himself in her subconscious by being around her in shops, or in the street. Gradually, he befriends her aunt in order to have a direct access to their house, and then befriends an awkward young man named Edward with the design of using him to show Cordelia all the differences between Edward and himself, along with the advantages he has over this boy.
A new phase in the narrative begins when Cordelia and Johannes become engaged. But its primary focus should not be mistaken as a simple re-telling of these events. The aim in so doing is, in fact, to examine the mind of the “aesthete par excellence”. By means of this examination, the seducer is painted in the colors of a libertine who sees in such bonds as friendship and marriage an infringement on his freedom, and a mitigation of his pleasure and amusement.
Pleasure, in fact, justifies even the existence of the diary itself. The entries are planned beforehand and recorded meticulously to provide their author with further sources of amusement and pleasure when re-reading them. This detail throws the light upon how little is Johannes aware of the people he meets. As far as he is concerned, they only exist for his own amusement, and this is why he does not experience any type of remorse in connection with the individuals he had injured. In other words, Johannes is alienated from other people in terms of emotions. He cannot understand how his fellow creatures feel, nor can he experience similar sentiments.
Kierkegaard’s decision of dealing with the aesthete’s life and mental foundation is very philosophical, for it confronts the reader with his or her own love for pleasure and amusement. The book seems like a constant appeal questioning its readers about their own lives and choices, and to what extent do they play the Johannes in someone else’s life.
