''The Sharks'' ( no, Haiene) is a novel written by Norwegian author

Jens Bjørneboe Jens Ingvald Bjørneboe (9 October 1920 – 9 May 1976) was a Norwegian writer whose work spanned a number of literary formats. He was also a painter and a Waldorf school teacher. Bjørneboe was a harsh and eloquent critic of Norwegian society an ...

between 1973 and 1974 and originally published by

Gyldendal Norsk Forlag Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS, commonly referred to as Gyldendal N.F. and in Norway often only as Gyldendal, is one of the largest Norwegian publishing houses. It was founded in 1925 after buying rights to publications from the Danish publishing ho ...

in 1974. It is an

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...

sea story The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

and was his last work. The external action takes place aboard the

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"Neptune," which is on its way from

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

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via

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. The year is 1899, and it is also a voyage into the new century. The story is told through the voice of Norwegian "Peder Jensen," the ship's second mate, who resembles Bjørneboe himself. This book has a very strong

symbol A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...

ism; the ship is always pursued by

sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorp ...

and on board, there are peoples of all nationalities. The ship is a symbol of the world, where the captain symbolizes those who have the power and the crew the oppressed. The sharks that pursue the ship symbolize the demons in man. The novel ends with a

mutiny Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among member ...

and a

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

, before the crew and officers are stranded on a deserted island where they live in peaceful

anarchy Anarchy is a society without a government. It may also refer to a society or group of people that entirely rejects a set hierarchy. ''Anarchy'' was first used in English in 1539, meaning "an absence of government". Pierre-Joseph Proudhon adopted ...

before being picked up by a passing ship. ''The Sharks'' is considered one of Bjørneboe's most important novels and has been translated into multiple languages. Two years after its publication Bjørneboe committed suicide.

Bibliography

, ''The sharks: the history of a crew and a shipwreck'', Norvik Press, 1992, *Jens Bjørneboe, ''Haiene: Historien om et mannskap og et forlis'',

, 1974,

References

*Laila Aase, Om Haiene av Jens Bjørneboe, Karnov, 1996, 1974 novels 20th-century Norwegian novels Fiction set in 1899 Novels set in the 1890s Gyldendal Norsk Forlag books {{1970s-hist-novel-stub