Engagement by Gun-Britt Sundström
A feminist cult classic about love, independence and what it means to be an individual, translated into English for the first time
‘I want to have him, I really do. I just don’t want him to have me.’
Martina and Gustav, students in 1970s Stockholm, meet and fall immediately into coupledom. But what is coupledom? A route to marriage? A declaration of co-dependency? A new dimension of commitment and responsibility? A sexual confrontation? Or is it a habit that an intelligent person must consider breaking? Martina and Gustav discuss their relationship endlessly, between themselves and with others, as they try to make it work.
Engagement, set during a time of social change and political upheaval, sees Martina trying to engage with the world on her own terms. Unwilling to marry, she finds herself in a state of permanent engagement while her friends settle down to marriage and children; uncertain of the world’s future, she engages with demos, sit-ins and philosophy seminars in her quest for a new blueprint for joy. First published in 1976, when it was heralded as an instant classic, Engagement remains as relevant, hilarious and heartbreaking today.
Gun-Britt Sundström (b.1945) works as an author, critic and translator. She is the author of sixteen books, including Engagement (1976). Since the 1990s, Gun-Britt Sundström has established herself as one of Sweden’s foremost translators of children’s books and fiction. She received the Helga Prize in 2019 for her ‘linguistic sensitivity, self-distance, black humour and acuity'.
Kathy Saranpa (Translator)
Kathy Saranpa (b.1955) is a literary translator living in Germany. Her first book-length translation was Ingrid and Joachim Wall’s A Silenced Voice (2020). She serves on the Committee of the Translators Association of the Society of Authors and on the advisory board of Books from Sweden.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780241688137 |
| ISBN 10 | 0241688132 |
| Title | Engagement |
| Author | Gun-Britt Sundström |
| Series | Penguin Modern Classics |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Penguin Classics |
| Year published | 2026-06-04 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |