>Also,if you like a mystery, he is probably the most mysterious American writer of the 20th century.
May be, Traven was not so american at all.
When his first books have been published in the 1920s in german in Germany in the publishing houses of the unions and the social democracy the debate about his identity began. Kurt Tucholsky wrote in 1930: "... he fall victim of his class position. This proletarian never learned good german. First I thought his books to be translated, poorly translated. But it is ignorance, combined with elements of bad american slang. But nevertheless and taken the whole thing: a great story teller. Surely not a nice neighbour, surely not a happy person. But a great story teller."
Rolf Recknagel later showed, that "B. Traven" was the man, wich in time of WWI published in Munich a journal "Der Ziegelbrenner" and used in this time for himself the name "Ret Marut". He was an anarchist and had to escape Germany after the defeat of the Munich republic of workers and soldiers councils in 1919. (Erich Mühsam as late as 1926 was publicly searching for his old comrade - in a moment, when the first stories of "B. Traven" have already been printed.)
Sebastian
-----Ursprüngliche Mitteilung----- Von: Joanna <123hop at comcast.net> An: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Verschickt: Sa., 5. Jul. 2008, 5:33 Thema: Re: [lbo-talk] Americans respond to $4 gas: drill drill
Woj writes: "As to the US being a police state - a few days ago NPR run a program on assets seisures and forfeitures ..." I have started reading R.B. Traven's jungle novels, a set of six novels recounting the events leading up to and around the Mexican revolution. Traven is magnificent. A born story teller and brilliant in being able to expose the core of historic relationships... In the first novel, "Government," the story mostly centers around how the colonial occupiers use "justice" to extract the maximum tribute, in labor and money, from the native population. Yes, in some ways race relations have improved. In other ways, it seems like the "govt" has made the lynching official in the name of the war on drugs, the war on terror, the war on whatever the fuck. I highly recommend Traven's writing. "Treasure of Sierra Madre" is the most famous. But "Death Ship" is a monument to global capital and local labor, and his short stories are very beautiful. Also,if you like a mystery, he is probably the most mysterious American writer of the 20th century. Joanna ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
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