The book is the first of Kierkegaard's works written pseudonymously, a practice he employed during the first half of his career.[14][15] In this case, he employed four pseudonyms:
- "Victor Eremita" - the fictional compiler and editor, which he claims to have found in an antique escritoire.
- "A" - the fictional author of the first text ("Part I") by Victor Eremita, whose real name he claims not to have known.
- B "Judge Vilhelm" (or "Wilhelm"[16] - "William") - the fictional author of the second text ("Part II").
- "Johannes" - the fictional author of a section of "Part I" titled "The Diary of a Seducer" and Cordelia his lover.[1]
