Poison (novel)

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Poison
Author Alexander Kielland
Original title Gift
Country Norway
Language Norwegian
Genre(s) Novel
Publisher Gyldendal
Publication date 1883
Media type Print (Hardback)
ISBN NA
Followed by Fortuna

Poison (original Norwegian title: Gift) is an 1883 novel by the Norwegian writer Alexander Kielland. The novel is the first in a trilogy including Fortuna (1884) and St. Hans Fest (1887).

This famous novel is an attack on the Norwegian education system, particularly on the obsession with Latin. A schoolboy, Marius, is tormented throughout the first half of the novel by his scholastic inability, and during his final illness continues to murmur rote phrases, his last words being Mensa rotunda.

The main character of the book is Marius's friend Abraham Løvdahl, the son of a respected doctor. His mother Wenche is an idealist who struggles in vain to keep her son honest and upright; she takes her own life after falling pregnant either to the businessman Michal Mordtmann or her husband Carsten Løvdahl.