The Economist - UK (2022-04-30)

76 Culture The Economist April 30th 2022

M

uchin“shuggiebain”echoed

DouglasStuart’sownlife.Asa child

theauthorlivedinSighthill,a poor

neighbourhoodnorthoftheRiverClyde

inGlasgow,asdoeshisyoungprotago­

nist.AlsolikeShuggie,MrStuartwas

bulliedandfeltatoddsina hyper­mas­

culineenvironment;hepreferredthe

companyofhismother,fictionalisedas

Agnes,whodiedfromalcoholismwhen

MrStuartwasinhisteens.Overthe

courseofa decadehetransmogrified

theseexperiencesintoa haunting,po­

werfuldebutnovel.ItwontheBooker

prizein 2020 andhassoldmorethan

1.5mcopiesinEnglishworldwide.

“YoungMungo”,MrStuart’snew

work,isa closesiblingto“ShuggieBain”.

It,too,issetinpoverty­strickenGlasgow

andfollowsthecoming­of­ageofitsgay

protagonist.Thereareabsentfathersand

mothersinthralltothebottle;the

youngstersdon’tknowwhattheywant

outoflifefromanalreadylimitedsetof

options.MrStuartagaindisplayshis

talentforcharacter,grotesqueonesin

particular,andhumorousdialogue.

Butthissecondworkisevenbleaker

thanthefirst.UnlikeAgnes,whopersis­

tentlyelicitedthereader’ssympathy

despiteherfailings,Mungo’smotherhas

noredeemingqualities.Whensteepedin

drink,Mo­Mawbecomes“Tattie­bogle”,a

horridcreaturewhose“lowerjawwould

hanglooseandhertonguewouldrollin

hermouthina dirty,lasciviousway,like

shewantedverybadlytolicksomething”.

Sheabscondstolivewitha newloverand

doesn’tthinkofherchildrenmuchatall,

leavingJodie,Mungo’sbrightoldersister,

tolookafterhim.

“YoungMungo”ismorebrutalthan

itspredecessoraswell.Neverfarawayin

“ShuggieBain”,violenceisomnipresent

inthisbook.Mungo’sbrother,Hamish,is

theleaderofa bloodthirstyProtestant

gang;itsmemberswieldhomemade

weaponswhenmutilatingtheirCatholic

rivals.MrStuart’sdescriptionsofinjuries

aregrimlyvivid:a gashis“raisedand

puckeredwhiteattheedges,likethetorn

fatona rasherofbacon”.

Mungoisperceivedbyallastoonaive,

toosensitiveandtoouninterestedin

girls.Hamishthinksinductinghiminto

thegangwouldsethimright.Mo­Maw

dispatchesMungowithtwostrangerson

a fishingtripto“makea man”outofhim.

Bothschemeshavedisastrousresults.

ThelightinallthisdarknessisMun­

go’srelationshipwithJames,a Catholic

boywhofindsa reprievefromtheestate

bytendingtopigeons.Thetwofallin

love,despitetheobviousperil,andplot

theirescape.Attimesthebarbarityde­

scribedsounflinchinglyin“YoungMun­

go”canbehardtostomach.ButMrStu­

art’sdeft,lyricalprose,andtheflickerof

hopethatremainsforMungo,keepthe

readerturningthepage.

Scottishfiction

Growing pains

YoungMungo.ByDouglasStuart.Grove

Press; 400 pages;$27.Picador;£16.99

Thedeargreenplace

IndustrialistsandtheNaziregime

Hitler’s enablers

A

t theappealshearinginApril 1949 of

Günther  Quandt,  one  of  Nazi  Ger­

many’s  top  industrialists,  Julius  Herf,  the

prosecutor, read from “The Protestant Eth­

ic and the Spirit of Capitalism” in his clos­

ing  argument.  He  felt  the  passage  in

Max  Weber’s  magnum  opus  elucidated

Quandt’s single­minded personality: 

It’s the intoxication of the pursuit of power,

the intoxication of building a huge corpora­

tion,  the  obsession  with  self­affirmation

that is at the root of all this, and it’s the belief

in the value of one’s own work, not only be­

cause work is something moral, but because

building  the  corporation  is  the  ultimate

good,  and  because  anything  that  resists

building it out is bad. 

He  did  not  manage  to  persuade  the

Munich court of Quandt’s guilt, nor the Ba­

varian  court  of  cassation  where  he  again

appealed  the  verdict.  Judges  argued  there

was no “clear proof” that Quandt had pro­

cured  “excessive  advantages”  for  himself

under  the  Nazis.  As  David  de  Jong  de­

scribes  in  “Nazi  Billionaires”,  other  Ger­

man  magnates,  including  Rudolf­August

Oetker  and  August  von  Finck,  got  “little

more than a slap on the wrist”.

After  Adolf  Hitler’s  rise  to  power,  Ger­

man  companies  benefited  from  lucrative

contracts  related  to  rearmament.  They

took  over  Jewish­owned  businesses.  Fac­

ing  a  shortage  of  workers  during  the  war,

German  firms  staffed  their  factories  with

concentration­camp  inmates  and  forced

labourers from occupied territories in Eu­

rope. Many of these 13.5m people died from

starvation, abuse or poor living and work­

ing conditions.

Yet businessmen were often deemed by

regional  denazification  courts  to  be  mere

followers  of  the  regime  rather  than  active

supporters.  Executives  went  back  to  work

in  the  newly  founded  federal  republic  to

become  even  richer.  Friedrich  Flick  (pic­

tured  on  next  page)  was  an  exception:  Mr

de Jong describes him as “one of the Third

Reich’s largest arms producers, Aryanisers,

and  exploiters  of  forced  and  slave  labour

through his steel, coal and machinery con­

glomerate”.  In  December  1947,  during  the

Nuremberg  trials,  Flick  was  convicted  of

war  crimes  and  crimes  against  humanity

and sentenced to seven years in prison. 

The  shameful  role  of  Germany’s  busi­

ness dynasties during the Nazi regime has

been known for decades, but Mr de Jong’s

investigative  work  adds  detail.  “Initially,

most  business  tycoons  viewed  Hitler  and

his Nazis as loud, violent, boorish, brutish

uniformed curiosities from the uneducat­

ed  and  impoverished  hinterlands,”  he

writes. That changed after the global stock­

market  crash  in  1929,  which  took  a  devas­

tating  toll  on  the  German  economy.  In

September 1930 the Nazi party became the

second­largest in the Reichstag. For Hitler,

economic malaise opened the door to Ger­

many’s richest businessmen: they hoped a

Faustian pact with the upstart from Austria

would  help  to  shield  their  business  em­

pires from a rebellion on the left.

Von  Finck,  a  financier  who  joined  the

Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of

Germany’s Wealthiest Dynasties.

By David de Jong. Mariner Books; 400 pages;

$28.99. William Collins; £25