Corsaren

Corsaren (English: The Corsair) (1840-1846) was a weekly satirical and political magazine published by Meïr Aron Goldschmidt who also wrote most of its content. The first issue was published on the 8 October 1840 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The first 6 month there were no less than 6 editors due to censorship issues and it was not until the 161st issue three years later that Goldschmidt's name was printed on the back as its publisher. In 1842 Goldschmidt was sentenced to 24 days in prison, a fine of 200 rigsdaler and future censorship.

The Kierkegaard Affair

Corsaren played an important role in the life of Søren Kierkegaard to the point that Kierkegaard could divide his life into a before and after Corsaren. A fight that Kierkegaard to a certain degree started himself when he under the pseudonym Frater Taciturnus in a five page article called The Work of a Travelling Aesthete (En omreisende Æsthetikers Virksomhed) in The Fatherland (Fædrelandet) on the 27. December 1845 wrote: Hopefully I will soon appear in 'The Corsair'. It is really hard for a poor writer to be thus singled out in Danish literature that he (assuming we pseudonyms are one) is the only one that is not scolded there. And again on the 10. January 1846: (...) can I ask to scolded (...).

Goldschmidt was forced to sell Corsaren in 1846 for 1,500 rigsdaler.

Sources

• Martin Zerlang. "Det Moderne Gennembrud 1870-1890. Tema 7: Presse og magasiner". Institut for litteraturvidenskab, KUA. http://www2.kb.dk/elib/mss/dmg/presse/index.htm. Retrieved 20 November 2009.