Poison (novel)

infobox Book |
name = Poison
title_orig = Gift
translator =


image_caption =
author = Alexander Kielland
cover_artist =
country = Norway
language = Norwegian
series =
genre = Novel
publisher = Gyldendal
release_date = 1883
media_type = Print (Hardback)
pages =
isbn = NA
preceded_by =
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.