Engagement

Engagement - Penguin Modern Classics

Paperback (03 Jul 2025)

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Publisher's Synopsis

'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.

Book information

ISBN: 9780241688120
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Imprint: Penguin Classics
Pub date:
Language: English
Number of pages: 560
Weight: 600g
Height: 216mm
Width: 135mm
Spine width: 40mm