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Memoirs, essays sought for Hong Festschrift

By Christine Kinney '08
December 6, 2007

For many members of the St. Olaf community and countless others, the names Howard Hong '34 and Edna Hong '38 bring forth memories of a couple devoted to exemplary public service who advised and supported generations of students and influenced thousands of colleagues, scholars and friends.

HongsWEB
Edna '38 and Howard Hong '34 founded the Kierkegaard Library with materials they donated to the college in 1976.
Those memories are now being sought for inclusion into a Festschrift honoring the Hongs. Jamie Lorentzen '81, chair of the Friends of the Kierkegaard Library, aims to compile a volume of critical essays and personal memoirs provisionally titled The Final Crossroads: A Festschrift for Howard and Edna Hong to honor and commemorate their life work.

"This is not just something for the college, but something for the entire community who have been touched by the Hongs," Lorentzen says.

Howard Hong was a philosophy professor at St. Olaf College for nearly 40 years. His wife, Edna, was a renowned author and a leader at St. John's Lutheran Church in Northfield. After Howard's retirement, the two focused their attention on the translation of the seven-volume Soren Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers series and the 26-volume Kierkegaard's Writings series. Commenting on this last major project, the Times Literary Supplement (London) said, "All honour to the Hongs: Kierkegaard's Writings is one of the outstanding achievements in the history of philosophical translation."

The Hongs donated their private collection of Kierkegaard works and translations to St. Olaf College in 1976 as the foundation of the present Howard V. and Edna H. Hong Kierkegaard Library.

Not only are the Hongs internationally known translators, they also acted as refugee workers in post-World War II Germany. They served field positions in Scandinavia, Austria and Germany from 1943 to 1949, aiding war prisoners and refugees.

When Lorentzen proposed the Festschrift to Marc Jolley, director of publications at Mercer University Press in Mason, Ga., Jolley replied, "I'd do it in a heartbeat."

Lorentzen is now calling for personal memoirs and critical essays from Kierkegaard and philosophy scholars, colleagues, translators, friends and former students intimately acquainted with any or all of the following: the translations; teaching, writing or library activities; and personal lives of the Hongs. Contents of the volume will be divided into two sections: "The Hongs as Family, Friends and Colleagues" and "The Hongs as Teachers, Translators and Scholars."

The deadline for submissions is July 1, 2008. Those interested in contributing can submit two hard copies of the final draft of the essay or memoir plus a brief biography of its author to:

Jamie Lorentzen

29065 Wood Ave.

Frontenac, MN 55026



Or in electronic form to:

jalorentzen@redwing.k12.mn.us

Contact Kari VanDerVeen at 507-786-3970 or vanderve@stolaf.edu.