Jonas (novel)

Jonas is a novel by Norwegian author Jens Bjørneboe, originally published in 1955 by Aschehoug.

[citation needed] The novel has a complex narrative taken from several different environments from the 1920s Weimar Republic and the Nazi era to the 1950s Norwegian society.

The novel's title character, "Jonas," is a first grader in Norway, who early in the novel encounters a public school system that according to Bjørneboe is increasingly controlled by the "salamanders," a term used metaphorically for the bigoted enemies of culture which Bjørneboe sees in Norway at the time.

Jonas is usually interpreted as a harsh critique of the Norwegian public school system and the social democratic society of the 1950s,[1][2] and has a warm portrayal of an alternative form of education, which is a thinly veiled reference to Waldorf education.

The novel however has a much broader focus than the education debate, Bjørneboe's intention was to portray the topic of humanity.