B. Traven

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B. Traven (d. March 26, 1969) was an enigmatic novelist who wrote primarily in German, and who is probably most famous for having written the novel The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Der Schatz der Sierra Madre). This book was the basis for the John Huston movie of the same name, which starred Humphrey Bogart. Traven's other books were ignored for years in North America while they were being acclaimed internationally and translated into numerous languages.

Traven wrote many novels, including The Death Ship and the epic Jungle Novel series, which is a description of government corruption and an Indian uprising set at the birth of the Mexican Revolution. The Jungle Novels include Government, The Carreta, March to the Monteria, Trozas, The Rebellion of the Hanged, and The General from the Jungle. These bleak, violent books powerfully portray the human basis of the Mexican revolution. They are notable for their anti-capitalist and pro-anarchist sympathies. As of 2006, some of Traven's works are still awaiting translation from German to English.

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[edit] Identity

Like American authors Thomas Pynchon and J. D. Salinger, the reclusive Traven delighted in his personal anonymity and refused to grant interviews. Little is known about him; it is not even clear whether he was a native German or merely wrote in the language. It is clear from the descriptions in his novels that he lived and travelled extensively in Europe, the United States and Mexico.

Most evidence points to Traven as German, but wild conjectures have been made as to his parentage. Some have suggested he might be the illegitimate son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, or Otto Feige, son of a German pottery worker from Schwiebus, Prussia [1]. It must be said that at the time many people maintained to be illegitimate or lost children of the monarchs as the famous Anastasia. The Encyclopædia Britannica states that he may have been born Berick Traven Torsvan in Chicago and that he grew up in Germany before settling in Mexico. The Penguin Encyclopedia, on the other hand, holds that he was born Albert Otto Max Frege in either Chicago or Poland.

[edit] Ret Marut and/or Hal Croves?

On the basis of their similar writing styles, it has been asserted that Traven was a pseudonym for the German anarchist Ret Marut, who published an underground magazine in the last years of the German Empire and early Weimar Republic, a fact that Traven himself permitted his wife to publish after his death.

Another identity for Traven was "Traven's agent", the seemingly English Hal Croves who worked with director John Huston while he was shooting The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. In interviews about the movie, Humphrey Bogart's wife, Lauren Bacall, reported that Huston had told her that Croves was Traven; however, Huston's wife at the time, Evelyn Keyes, later said Huston was skeptical of Croves. Huston himself however stated that it was quite obvious that Croves was Traven and as soon as Croven had left the set, letters from Traven started to arrive again. A dispute over a reduction in Croves' wages for his work on the film may have clouded the issue.

Traven's widow, Rosa Elena Luján, supported speculations about both pseudonyms in an interview published in 1990 in The New York Times. The Times reporter notes that the irrelevance of formal identity is a central theme of The Death Ship. Traven's widow said that Traven had something like ten identities and "loved to tangle things up." The story notes that the identity of "Ret Marut" can be traced back to 1907, and that neither Traven's widow nor anyone else really knows who he was before that.

[edit] Arthur Cravan?

A biographical graphic novel on the life of Arthur Cravan has been published by Dark Horse Comics. Written by the publisher, Mike Richardson, and illustrated by Rick Geary, "Cravan" puts forth the idea that Cravan and Traven might be one and the same. Arthur Cravan was a Dadaist, a pugilist, and an all around larger-than-life personality who disappeared somewhere in Mexico around 1920. Cravan, like Traven, employed dozens of pseudonyms out of necessity or preference.

[edit] Books

Jungle Novels

By Ret Marut

  • To the Honorable Miss S... and other stories (1915-19; English publication 1981) ISBN 0-88208-131-4

[edit] References

  • Jonah Raskin, My Search for B. Traven (New York: Methuen, 1980). ISBN 978-0416007510
  • Karl S. Guthke, B. Traven. Biographie eines Rätsels (Frankfurt am Main: BG Gutenberg, 1987). ISBN 978-3763232680
  • "His Widow Reveals Much Of Who B. Traven Really Was," Larry Rohter, The New York Times, June 25, 1990, p. C13

[edit] External links

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