''Gentlemen'' is the fourth novel by Swedish author Klas Östergren, published in 1980. It was translated into English by Tiina Nunnally in 2007. A film adaptation, ''

Gentlemen A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the ra ...

'', directed by Mikael Marcimain, was released in 2014.

Plot summary

The novel is set in the late 1970s

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. The narrator, Klas Östergren, is a young writer who shares the name with the author of the novel. He picks up a commission to write a

pastiche A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking it ...

of Strindberg's '' The Red Room'', updating its political satire to mark the centenary of its publication. Soon after, Klas finds out that he has been burgled on nearly all of his belongings. In a local boxing club he meets the elegant and charismatic Henry Morgan, a boxer, pianist and an ebullient if unreliable raconteur. Henry persuades Klas to move into his apartment, where he lives with his mentally unstable brother Leo. The second part of the novel tells the story of the Morgan brother's previous life. A picaresque story of Henry as, among other things, a smuggler of false passports to

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

, and Leo who finds out about a political scandal concerning Swedish sales of weapons to nazi-Germany during World War II. In the third part of the novel, Henry and Leo both mysteriously disappear, and Klas finds himself living alone in the apartment. He burns up his unsuccessful attempt to write a pastiche of ''The Red Room'' and begin to write a new story, the story about the Morgan brothers.

References

External links

1980 Swedish novels Novels by Klas Östergren Swedish-language novels Swedish novels adapted into films Novels set in Stockholm Albert Bonniers Förlag books {{1980s-novel-stub