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Engagement

Engagement - Penguin Modern Classics

C format

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.

About the Publisher

Penguin Classics

In January 1946, the Penguin Classics list was launched with E. V. Rieu's translation of The Odyssey. The series now consists of over 800 titles including the best in English, American, European, classical and non-western literature and an extensive range of philosophy, religion, art, history and politics titles.

Book information

ISBN: 9780241688120
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Imprint: Penguin Classics
Pub date:
Edition: C format
DEWEY: 839.738
DEWEY edition: 23
Language: English
Number of pages: 512
Weight: 600g
Height: 216mm
Width: 135mm
Spine width: 40mm