"Kierkegaard" quote

topic posted Thu, April 10, 2008 - 3:49 AM by  JM
I don't even know how to begin looking for this...
Once upon a time, I was reading the paperback Folio French translation of "Diary of a Seducer," and fell in love with the little German poem used as an epigram:

Gehe, Verschmahe die treue
Die Reue kommt nach.

But I can't remember who actually wrote the epigram, or if it's even noted.

I don't have the book anymore, and amazon.fr doesn't have that nice "Look Inside!" function.

Is this line familiar to anyone?
posted by:
JM
offline JM
  • Re: "Kierkegaard" quote

    Thu, April 10, 2008 - 7:01 AM
    Google.de is my cheat-sheet: It's from Goethe's "Jery und Bätely", and the quote (in gothic! ;) can be found here:

    books.google.ch/books
    • Re: "Kierkegaard" quote

      Thu, April 10, 2008 - 3:59 PM
      DUDE, that is so goth.
      • JM
        JM
        offline 77

        Re: "Kierkegaard" quote

        Mon, April 14, 2008 - 9:18 AM
        Wow. Thanks!

        The funny thing was that when I googled it, I only came up with:

        Gehe, Verschmahe die treue
        Die *Neue* kommt nach.

        ... which is also true... :)
        • Re: "Kierkegaard" quote

          Tue, April 15, 2008 - 5:22 AM
          No translations? You guys are CRUEL!
          • Re: "Kierkegaard" quote

            Tue, April 15, 2008 - 6:26 AM
            "Mais grandmère, tu ne parles *que* Français?!", said by a 7 year old girl of my acquaintance, who was born in Vienna, and spent several years in Moscow, of French mother, and is thus quite perfectly trilingual.

            OK, here goes:

            "Go, (despise/ignore/turn your nose at) faithfulness, the regrets will follow."

            (or, in the modified version, "the new woman/girl will follow")

            (really, Grandmother, you *only* speak French?!)
            • JM
              JM
              offline 77

              Re: "Kierkegaard" quote

              Wed, April 16, 2008 - 12:44 AM
              The thing is, how do you read it?
              As an enticement, or a warning?
              • Re: "Kierkegaard" quote

                Fri, April 18, 2008 - 5:09 AM
                <The thing is, how do you read it?
                As an enticement, or a warning?>

                Or an inevitability?

                What is the context? Or is lack of context part of the conundrum?
                • Re: "Kierkegaard" quote

                  Mon, April 21, 2008 - 3:07 AM
                  Context: Jery is in love with Bätely, and has been courting her for a year. She is all cold-shoulder, and after he again tries to win her heart as they banter with each other, leaves the conversation, and goes on her way back to her father's farm. Jery then says:

                  "Gehe, verschmähe die Treue. Die Reue kommt nach!"

                  So the reading is simply one of him being frustrated, his faithful and unrelenting pursuit of her having been scorned once again, and he prophesies that she will regret not having warmed to him (or to any other suitor, apparently; propheticallly, I feel, the next scene is Jery talking with an old acquaintance of his, who is now a dashing soldier, and something of a womanizer. I haven't read beyond that, but I can sort of feel an inevitable development to the story ;)

                  But I'm afraid that context - as usual - makes the quote that much less interesting ;)

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