Anton Boisen: A Portrait

This psychobiographical essay aims to shift Boisen scholarship from a focus on his disputed psychiatric diagnosis to a more inclusive investigation of the disparate aspects of his personality. I conclude that Boisen’s central personality trait was a brand of loquacity that lacked substance—specifically the substance of his deepest secrets. This caused a kind of chronic frustration in his relations with others and, I argue, led to his chronic, psychotic state of being. Additionally, I argue that Boisen’s psychosis and religious practice worked together to sustain his psychological regression.