A Son of the Rock

Vagabond Voices, 2014, 146 p, plus 3 p Afterword.

The book is an exploration of the last days of Klaus Mann, son of Thomas Mann. Klaus’s life was always lived somewhat in the shadow of his father, who is often referred to here as The Magician.

Klaus’s homosexuality is made obvious to us from the start as on page one he is in bed with a young man but has just woken from a dream about his childhood home, now at best a ruin, but in any case one that can never be returned to. That dream brings thoughts of his elder sister Erika with whom Klaus had a close relationship. As young adults the pair had been intimate with their fellow actors Pamela Wedekind and Gustaf Gründgens. Erika and Pamela had been lovers, as too for a short time were Klaus and Gustaf. Nevertheless, Klaus got engaged to Pamela and Erika married Gustaf. Neither relationship lasted.

As a homosexual and an anti-fascist in a country and time (Nazi Germany) where to be either was dangerous, Klaus’s days in his homeland were numbered; as were Erika’s. Klaus eventually arrived in the US. He joined the US army in 1943 and became a contributor to Stars and Stripes, producing one of the first reports of the extermination camps.

Klaus’s 1936 novel Mephisto was a slightly disguised account of Gustaf’s career as an actor which not only did not cease under Nazism, it thrived. After Gustaf’s death his adopted son sued the publisher to have Mephisto removed from sale.

Considerations such as this, along with Klaus’s drug use, money troubles and his homosexuality, put him under strain. The relatively short book is filled with reminiscences about his youth and reflections on his present, the burden of which along with his estrangement from his homeland are too much to bear.

Pedant’s corner:- “Dr Goebbels’ instruction” (Goebbels’s,) “palet bed” (pallet bed.)