The Concept of Anxiety
All of Kierkegaard's books have either a preface, dedication, or prayer at the beginning. This book includes a lengthy introduction. "The Concept of Anxiety" was published on exactly the same date as "Prefaces", June 17, 1844. Both books deal with Hegel’s idea of mediation. Mediation is a common thread throughout Kierkegaard’s works. His work up to this point was to show that faith was being mediated by knowledge. Here he takes up the questions of sin and guilt.
The Concept of Anxiety
Walter Lowrie translated "The Concept of Dread" in 1944. He was asked "almost petulantly" why it took him so long to translate the book. Alexander Dru had been working on the book and Charles Williams hoped the book would be published along with "The Sickness Unto Death", which Lowrie was working on in 1939. Then the war started and Dru was wounded and gave the job over to Lowrie. Lowrie could find "no adequate word to use for "Angst". Lee Hollander had used the word dread in 1924, a Spanish translator used "angustia", and Miguel Unamuno, writing in French used "agonie" while other French translators used "angoisse". Rollo May quoted Kierkegaard in his book "Meaning of Anxiety", which is the relation between anxiety and freedom.