The aim of this study is to examine how the Swedish writer Aurora Ljungstedt describes relations and desire in her En jägares historier, and what political message she tries to send her audience through that description.

I have applied Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s theory of erotic triangles to the relationships in En jägares historier and found that they are structured in the way Sedgwick describes. The structure works to uphold and, when needed, re-establish patriarchal order in the book. Most female characters in En jägares historier are – also in line with Sedgwick’s theory – no more than articles of trade between men. Only one woman surpasses this female role, and she is also the only main character in the book who is not involved in any triangular desire.

Ljungstedt uses a male perspective, the flaneur, to tell her story, which gives her opportunity to speak ironically of the male view on women. Still, her view on patriarchy and women’s liberation is ambivalent – the fall of patriarchy is connected with revolutionary tendencies that she clearly dislikes – instead, her political message becomes clear in the constantly underlying motives of devotion and commitment. These motives are most clearly illustrated in the recurrent motive of parents abandoning their children. The positive change from passivity and indifference to involvement and responsibility pervades the entire book.