Book | Sweden

English title: The Husband. A Relationship Novel
Keyword(s): partner relationships | novels | Sweden
Languages(s): Swedish
Manifest: not viewable due to copyrights restrictions: Maken. En förhållanderoman

Summary:
Generations of Swedish readers have identified with the characters Martina and Gustav in Gun-Britt Sundström’s novel Maken (1976). Martina, who is also the story’s narrator, wants to be free and independent. Gustav, her fiancé, or “husband”, wants to get married and raise a family. Gustav is the one who loves the most, whereas Martina is repelled by the very thought of having been “chosen”. Their story develops into an ongoing discussion about how a relationship should work and about the responsibility both parts have for their life choices. With Martina refusing to conform to prescribed female conduct, the story turns out as a critical scrutiny of ingrained opinions. Rather than describing love as overwhelming passion, Maken provides both ethical and philosophical reflections on partner relationships, dealing with different truths, as a modern variation of the attitudes of life examined by Søren Kierkegaard in Enten–Eller (Either/Or, 1843). / Summary by Åsa Arping