Scottish Douglas Stuart had apparently won the lottery of a lifetime. He had recovered from a childhood in poverty in Glasgow, been selected as a designer by Calvin Klein, moved to New York and married a loving man. Still, at the height of his career as a fashion designer, he began writing in secret: A novel based on his own experiences, as a gay boy in a harsh and poor environment, with a mother who drank, where violence and humiliation were commonplace. He sent the script to 44 publishers and received the same number of refunds. – Several editors replied that the book was one of the strongest they had read, but they could not market it. A poor, queer boy in Glasgow in the 80s did not fit into the spirit of the times, which was then focused on metoo, young women and black lives matter, Stuart tells news. But he did not give up. Stuart did not change a full stop, not a comma in the script. He finally got a bite, and when the novel “Shuggie Bain” was finally published, it ran away with the most generous British award in 2020 – the Booker Award. Believes the attack in Oslo has given a new perspective In Norway, the book has been on lending tops and bestseller lists. In addition, the author is current with his second novel, “Young Mungo”. In June, Stuart finally arrived in Oslo, on a very delayed and extensive tour in Europe and the USA. He gives his Norwegian publisher much of the credit for the success he is experiencing: – Gyldendal was number one to adopt my book for translation. Their enthusiasm helped pave the way for other translations, says Douglas Stuart. Gyldendal’s editor-in-chief, Cathrine Bakke Brolin, bought Stuart’s debut novel for Norwegian translation, six months before it was published in the USA. That despite all the refunds. She has been excited about whether Stuart would be able to match the debut book’s strong nerve, but was gripped by the story of Mungo and James: – “Young Mungo” is the finest love story I have read, she says. Douglas Stuart himself has chosen the cover of “Young Mungo”, a well-known photograph that means a lot to him and many gays. Some publishers have nevertheless chosen covers that do not front the queer aspect, such as the American one (on the right). Photo: Gyldendal / Grove Press While the Booker winner “Shuggie Bain” focuses on the difficult love between a mother and a son, the sequel focuses on the dangerous love between two young men. Dangerous because it was by no means accepted to be gay in the working class neighborhoods of Glasgow in the 1980s. Some critics have suggested that Douglas Stuart goes too far in his portrayals of violence and misery. The shooting attack in Oslo on June 25 has put Stuart’s books in a new perspective, Brolin believes: – When we look up, one can ask what is not happening to gays in the world today. Stuart’s book “Young Mungo” shows the need for literature to fight to love whoever it wants. – Who will decide what a human being is worth? Who should say that it is not allowed to love whoever you want, she asks. Wrote the book he himself needed as a young man There are gradually more novels about queer love, but Stuart’s books stand out because they take place in the working class in the 80’s. While the British upper class may have tolerated special “friendships” between boys in boarding school, the working class put tough masculinity first. There was no room for queer people, the author says. He had seen gays on TV, but they were miles away, in London. He felt completely alone as queer. – As a 40-year-old man, I wrote that book for the 15-year-old me. I was completely isolated and longed so much for such a friendship and such purity. It would have changed everything, he says, moved. Later, other men from Glasgow confessed to him that they were also gay, but hid it. Now the author fears that these experiences will disappear from the writing of history. – Much of our queer history has been erased for us who belong to the working class, be it in film or literature. The working-class literature is typically about gangs, crime and tough men. There was another type of life during this period. – I wanted to write a Romeo and Juliet story seen through the eyes of two men, says Douglas Stuart. More relevant issues:
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“Shuggie Bain” was rejected 44 times – then Douglas Stuart won the Booker Prize – news Culture and Entertainment
