Kierkegaard had published only one of his three works on his own authorship, namely the short resumé (On My Work as an Author) of the present work, which he did not dare publish because he was afraid of being misunderstood by his contemporaries. The work constitutes a frank account of his method of authorship and also serves as a paramount piece of autobiography.

In 1846, Kierkegaard had started using a protocol as his journal. This is the first of the journals denoted NB that he continued throughout the rest of his life. These journal entries, amounting to 36 volumes in all, are filled with attempts at understanding himself, his purpose, the meaning of his writings, and not least how he himself understood his authorship and wished for it to be understood in posterity.

These latter considerations are the basis of the” The Point of View for My Work as an Author”, which Kierkegaard left unpublished, not wishing to be viewed as self-glorifying, to be published posthumously by Peter Kierkegaard, Søren’s brother.

The considerations of whether to let “The Point of View for My Work as an Author” – which Kierkegaard also calls “The Confession of one Dying” – remain unpublished until after his death fill a lot in the notebooks from 1849 (eg. NB 10:6; NB 10:60; NB 10:169; NB 11:123; NB 11:195), clearly showing how much this work meant to Kierkegaard, who finally decided that it could indeed only be published posthumously.

Himmelstrup 292.