The Latecomer

“In fact, the answer to that was: yes, as Salo’s Jewishness was not particularly acute, either in the religious or, at the age of nineteen, all that much in the historical sense. Certainly he was well aware of the mythic Jud Süss—‘court Jew’ to the Duke of Wurttemberg in the 1730s, convicted of a bouquet of fictional crimes when his boss died suddenly, and executed, his corpse hung in a gibbet for six years outside of Stuttgart—but all that felt so very eighteenth century, and Salo was a young man fresh out of the 1960s, when the entire culture had coalesced around his own generation’s youth and vigor and renunciation of the past. Besides, he’d really, really liked that Benz a lot, its sleek shape and leather seats, the vaguely European sophistication he’d felt sitting behind the wheel.”

When Salo wants to buy a Mercedes, his grandmother is scandalized because of the connection to Germany and the Nazi party, as Mercedes manufactured the trucks and aircraft for Germany throughout World War II. Salo feels distanced from that history, although he does know the story of his ancestor, Joseph Oppenheimer, who will be a motif for the family. This passage, early on in the novel, establishes that they are, as Lewyn says, “cultural Jews,” and none of them seem to be very connected to the Jewish faith. Still, Jud Süss’s rejection for his faith and ejection from the home he had made for himself mirrors the legacy the Oppenheimer children must bear in their own modern lives.

“Art was an established tradition within the Oppenheimer family, and that was enough to justify an early-morning survey course, and one on the Modernists, and one on Pollock and his circle. Art was also an acknowledged part of the apparatus of wealth, indeed, a not unuseful vector for acquiring wealth.”

Salo’s relationship to art shifts dramatically with his discovery of the Twombly painting in a German museum. Art has always been part of his life, but now he feels passion and an emotional connection. However, he explores this new passion while still following his expected trajectory—he joins the family firm upon graduation, as expected, and keeps his passion for art to himself. This is characteristic of Salo—to do what others expect of him, while keeping his inner life a secret.