Marino, On the Distinction Between Recollection and Remembrance

Abstract: In the penultimate chapter of his Works of Love (1847) Kierkegaard addresses our duty to recollect the dead. This paper argues that in both the original Danish and the English translation, Kierkegaard’s use of the term “recollection” bears a significantly different meaning from the term “remembrance.” In contrast to remembrance, the act of recollection is an active process of appropriation requiring inwardness on the part of the individual relating themself to the deceased. Kierkegaard argues that what renders our relationship to the dead unique is the fact that there can be no expectation of reciprocity when we visit the graves of the departed. In these pages, I posit that the use of “recollection” in Kierkegaard’s 1845 discourse “At a Graveside,” supports this interpretation of the same term in Works of Love.