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> A review of B.Traven’s TROZAS
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> by Mike Ballard
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>
> B. Traven puts a lot of Spanish and Indian words in
> his novels. He always translates these words right
> after using them and that is certainly a pleasant
> thing about reading his work. However, he doesn’t
> explain what this b
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B. Traven has always been one of my favorites. The one I'd really like to see filmed is "The Black Ship". It is about seamen trapped on a death ship - one that through careless maintenance, and probably deliberate sabatoge for the sake of insurance will kill them all. It is about the "globalization" of the early 20th century, which has a lot in common with the "globalization" of today. Read the old Houston Chronicle series "Lost at Sea" for the race to the botoom that has impoverished and killed many sailors; you could definitely take the basic plot, and update it with a fishing or freight vessel operating under a 21st century flag of convenience. In the modern version, I'd skip the insurance scam - and just stick to business as usual killing everyone - substitutiong modern abuses for the one in the Traven novel. (Though they are horribly similar.) Fascinating character studies - as all the people from the captain on down stick to their jobs and their slots knowing or suspecting that it will kill them - and yet never even considering collective action - simply landing the ship somewhere and abandoning it to do something els. Given that B. Traven was active in the IWW - the omission of even considering this possiblity has to be deliberate. It may have been Travens exploration of hte mystery of the rarity of revolution; no answers of course - but given that we don't have such answers today it would have been rather much to expect.