This is the first of a three-volume work dedicated to exploring the influence of G.W.F. Hegel’s philosophical thinking in Golden Age Denmark. The work demonstrates that the largely overlooked tradition of Danish Hegelianism played a profound and indeed constitutive role in many spheres of Golden Age culture. This initial tome covers the period from the beginning of the Hegel reception in the Danish Kingdom in the 1820s until the end of 1836. The dominant figure from this period is the poet and critic Johan Ludvig Heiberg, who attended Hegel’s lectures in Berlin in 1824 and then launched a campaign to popularize Hegel’s philosophy among his fellow countrymen. Using his journal Kjøbenhavns flyvende Post as a platform, Heiberg published numerous articles containing ideas that he had borrowed from Hegel. Several readers felt provoked by Heiberg’s Hegelianism and wrote critical responses to him, many of which appeared in Kjøbenhavnsposten, the rival of Heiberg’s journal. Through these debates Hegel’s philosophy became an important part of Danish cultural life.

This is the second volume in a three-volume work dedicated to exploring the influence of G.W.F. Hegel’s philosophical thinking in Golden Age Denmark. The work demonstrates that the largely overlooked tradition of Danish Hegelianism played a profound and indeed constitutive role in many spheres of the Golden Age culture. This second tome treats the most intensive period in the history of the Danish Hegel reception, namely, the years from 1837 to 1841. The main figure in this period is the theologian Hans Martensen who made Hegel’s philosophy a sensation among the students at the University of Copenhagen in the late 1830s. This period also includes the publication of Johan Ludvig Heiberg’s Hegelian journal, Perseus, and Frederik Christian Sibbern’s monumental review of it, which represented the most extensive treatment of Hegel’s philosophy in the Danish language at the time. During this period Hegel’s philosophy flourished in unlikely genres such as drama and lyric poetry. During these years Hegelianism enjoyed an unprecedented success in Denmark until it gradually began to be perceived as a dangerous trend.