Let’s get the liberal view on the matter out of the way first. That being, the book and story of Jonah is allegorical. Why is this problematic? Well… when one starts to attribute allegory to entire swaths of scripture, it becomes subject to vast interpretation. And we know per vs 20 of 2 Peter 1, that no prophecy/scripture is of personal interpretation. So out goes allegory and it anonymous penman. Next possibility is the idea that it is a written account of word of mouth retelling. This has a bit of merit as historically the Hebrew people have vocalized their journey with God from the beginning. However… when you read the actual book, and observe the character of Jonah. It is difficult to imagine, the rogue prophet sitting down across from anyone and recounting his exploits to try and redeem the most hated city/state of Nineveh. >>>4