B. Traven (; Bruno Traven in some accounts) was the pen name of a novelist, presumed to be German, known for his novels on injustice and exploitation around the world, and especially in Mexico. His name, nationality, date and place of birth have been subject to dispute. One certainty about Traven's life is that he lived under the name of Ret Marut in Germany until 1923 and arrived in 1924 in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, where the majority of his fiction is also set—including '' The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'' (1927), the film adaptation of which won three

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

in 1949.

Life

There have been many hypotheses on the paternity of B. Traven, some of them wildly fantastic. It has been generally accepted that Traven is Ret Marut, a German stage actor and

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

, who edited an anarchist magazine in Germany called '' Der Ziegelbrenner'' (''The Brick Burner''). Traven's widow Rosa Elena Luján announced that her husband and Marut were one and the same in a statement after his death in 1969. Marut was a pseudonym possibly related to his real name as well as to

Hindu mythology Hindu mythology refers to the collection of myths associated with Hinduism, derived from various Hindu texts and traditions. These myths are found in sacred texts such as the Vedas, the Itihasas (the ''Mahabharata'' and the ''Ramayan ...

. His career as an actor and later pamphleteer has been traced from 1907 by and in detail by , his most complete and careful biographer. Of the names suggested for the author, one was traceable to a documented birth. This was Hermann Albert Otto Maximilian Feige, born in Schwiebus in

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

on 23 February 1882. This name and date were given by Marut to the

British police Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Most law enforcement duties are carried out by police, police constables of ...

in London in 1923 when arrested as an unregistered alien. This name is not plausible because Traven frequently used identity papers borrowed or obtained from friends or acquaintances like the Feige document: a similar borrowed identity document has been found in the Traven archive. The Feige hypothesis has been questioned by the heirs to the B. Traven Estate as the result of a subsequent more plausible revelation. In December 1990 Traven's stepdaughter Maria Eugenia Montes de Oca Luján and her husband Timothy Heyman were told by Gabriel Figueroa, the renowned Mexican cinematographer, one of Traven's closest friends in Mexico (Traven was his son's godfather), that Traven was the illegitimate son of Emil Rathenau, the founder of AEG, and Helen Mareck, an Irish actress, and that his name was Moritz Rathenau. Heyman subsequently investigated this revelation and published an article with evidence strongly supporting it in the Mexican magazine Libres on May 2019. An important argument was that both Traven and Ret Marut were anagrams of Moritz Rathenau and he provided other evidence from the Figueroa archive maintained by Gabriel Figueroa Jr., Traven's godson, to support the hypothesis. Traven's novels and short stories became very popular as early as the interwar period and retained this popularity after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

; they were also translated into many languages. Most of B. Traven's books were published in German first, with their English editions appearing later; nevertheless, the author always claimed that the English versions were the original ones and that the German versions were only their translations. This claim is mostly treated by Traven scholars as a diversion or a joke, although there are those who accept it.

Works

The writer with the pen name B. Traven appeared on the German literary scene in 1925, when the

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

daily '' Vorwärts'', the organ of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

, published the first short story signed with this pseudonym on February 28. Soon, it published Traven's first novel, ''Die Baumwollpflücker'' ('' The Cotton-Pickers''), which appeared in installments in June and July of the same year. The expanded book edition was published in May 1926 by the Berlin-based Buchmeister publishing house, which was owned by the left-leaning trade-unions-affiliated

book sales club A book sales club is a subscription-based method of selling and purchasing books. It is more often called simply a book club, a term that is also used to describe a book discussion club, which can cause confusion. Business model Each member of a ...

Büchergilde Gutenberg.The title of the first book edition was ''Der Wobbly'', a common name for members of the industrial unionist

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...

; in later editions the original title ''Die Baumwollpflücker'' was restored. In the book, Traven introduced for the first time the figure of Gerald Gales (in Traven's other works his name is Gerald Gale or Gerard Gales), an American sailor who looks for a job in different occupations in Mexico, often consorting with suspicious characters and witnessing capitalistic exploitation, nevertheless not losing his will to fight and striving to draw joy from life. In April ot the same year (1926), Büchergilde Gutenberg, which was Traven's publishing house until 1939, published ''Das Totenschiff'' ('' The Death Ship''). The main character of the novel is also Gerard Gales, a sailor who, having lost his documents, virtually forfeits his identity, the right to normal life and a home country and, consequently, is forced to work as a stoker's helper in extremely difficult conditions on board a "death ship" (or coffin ship), which sails on suspicious voyages around the European and African coasts. The novel is an accusation of the greed of capitalist employers and bureaucracy of officials who deport Gale from the countries where he seeks refuge. In the light of findings by Traven's biographers, ''The Death Ship'' may be regarded as a novel with autobiographical elements. Assuming that B. Traven is identical with the revolutionary Ret Marut, there is a clear parallel between the fate of Gales and the life of the writer himself, devoid of his home country, who might have been forced to work in a boiler room of a steamer on a voyage from Europe to Mexico. Traven's best known novel is '' The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'', published first in German in 1927 as ''Der Schatz der Sierra Madre''. The book is again set in Mexico, where its main characters are a group of American adventurers and gold seekers. In 1948 the book was filmed under the same title ('' The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'') by the Hollywood director

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics. He rec ...

. The film, starring

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...

and

Walter Huston Walter Thomas Huston ( ; April 6, 1883 or 1884 – April 7, 1950) was a Canadian actor and singer. Huston won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in '' The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'', directed by his son John Huston. He ...

, was a great critical success, and in 1949 it won three

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

s. The figure of Gerald Gales returned in Traven's next book, ''The Bridge in the Jungle'' (''Die Brücke im Dschungel''), which was serialized in ''Vorwärts'' in 1927 and published in an extended book form in 1929. In the novel, Traven first dealt in detail with the question of the

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

in South and North America and the conflicting values and traditions between white settler cultures and indigenous cultures throughout the Americas; these themes detailing the problems of colonization dominated what became known as the Jungle Novels published in the 1930s. The 1930s are mainly the period in which Traven wrote and published the Jungle Novels – a series of six novels consisting of ''The Carreta'' (''Der Karren'', 1931), ''Government'' (''Regierung'', 1931), ''March to the Monteria'' (''Der Marsch ins Reich der Caoba'', 1933), ''Trozas'' (''Die Troza'', 1936), ''The Rebellion of the Hanged'' (''Die Rebellion der Gehenkten'', 1936), and ''General from the Jungle'' (''Ein General kommt aus dem Dschungel'', with a Swedish translation published in 1939 and the German original in 1940). The novels describe the life of indigenous Mexicans in the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

in the early 20th century who are forced to work under inhumane conditions at clearing

mahogany Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Universit ...

in labour camps (''monterias'') in the jungle; the working and living conditions lead to a rebellion and the outbreak of the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...

. Traven's last novel, published in 1960, was ''Aslan Norval'', the story of an American millionairess who is married to an aging businessman and at the same time in love with a young man; she intends to build a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

running across the United States as an alternative for the

nuclear arms race The nuclear arms race was an arms race competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War. During this same period, in addition to the American and Soviet nuc ...

and

space race The Space Race (, ) was a 20th-century competition between the Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between t ...

. The subject and the language of the novel, which were completely different from the writer's other works, resulted in its rejection for a long time by publishers who doubted Traven's authorship; the novel was accused of being "trivial" and "pornographic". The book was only accepted for publication after its thorough stylistic editing by Johannes Schönherr, who adapted its language to the "Traven style". Apart from his twelve novels, B. Traven authored many short stories, some of which remain unpublished. Besides the already mentioned ''Macario'', the writer adapted the Mexican legend about ''The Creation of the Sun and the Moon'' (''Sonnen-Schöpfung'', with a Czech translation published in 1934 and the German original in 1936). The first collection of Traven's short stories, entitled ''Der Busch'', appeared in 1928; its second, enlarged edition was published in 1930. From the 1940s onwards many of his short stories also appeared in magazines and anthologies in different languages. Having been trained in photography by Edward Weston and Tina Modotti, in 1926 Traven was hired as the photographer for an expedition to Chiapas led by Enrique Palacios of the UNAM (Mexican National University) with the purpose of exterminating the locust which plagued the crops of the communities living in the state. After the expedition ended in August, 1926, Traven chose to stay in the state and returned to the state several times in successive years, to study and write about its people. The result was an anthropological book about Chiapas, ''Land of Springtime'' (''Land des Frühlings'') published in 1928 by Büchergilder with 64 photos and captions produced by the author. The book consolidated his pivot from Europe related problems of governance, identity, bureaucracy and capitalism, to the condemnation of the oppression of Mexico's indigenous people. The six jungle novels were the result of his decision to communicate his beliefs and ideals through fiction, just as he had used the Death Ship to express his views on injustice, inequality, capitalism and oppression in the developed world.

Themes

B. Traven's major writings are classified as

adventure novel Adventure fiction is a type of fiction that usually presents danger, or gives the reader a sense of excitement. Some adventure fiction also satisfies the literary definition of romance fiction. History In the introduction to the ''Encycloped ...

s with proletarian themes. An anarchist element of rebellion often lies at the centre of the novel's action. The hero's rejection of his degrading living conditions frequently serves as motive, and broad emphasis is placed upon the efforts of the oppressed to liberate themselves. Apart from that, there are virtually no political programmes in Traven's books; his clearest manifesto may be the general anarchist demand " ¡Tierra y Libertad!" in the Jungle Novels. Professional politicians, including ones who sympathize with the left, are usually shown in a negative light, if shown at all. Despite this, Traven's books are ''par excellence'' political works. Although the author does not offer any positive programme, he always indicates the cause of suffering of his heroes. This source of suffering, deprivation, poverty and death is for him capitalism, personified in the deliberations of the hero of ''The Death Ship'' as ''Caesar Augustus Capitalismus''. In his presentation of oppression and exploitation, Traven did not limit himself to the criticism of capitalism; in the centre of his interest there were racist persecutions of Mexican Indians. These motifs, mainly visible in the Jungle Novels, were unusual in the 1930s. Most leftist intellectuals, despite their negative attitude to European and

American imperialism U.S. imperialism or American imperialism is the expansion of political, economic, cultural, media, and military influence beyond the boundaries of the United States. Depending on the commentator, it may include imperialism through outright mi ...

, did not know about or were not interested in persecution of natives in Africa, Asia or South America. It has been argued that Traven deserves credit for drawing public attention to these questions, long before anti-colonial movements and civil rights movement in the United States.

Identity

Traven submitted his works himself or through his representatives for publication from Mexico to Europe by post and gave a Mexican post office box as his return address. The

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

holder named in his books was "B. Traven, Tamaulipas, Mexico". Neither the European nor the American publishers of the writer ever met him personally or, at least, the people with whom they negotiated the publication and later also the filming of his books always maintained they were only Traven's

literary agents Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, ...

; the identity of the writer himself was to be kept secret. This reluctance to offer any biographical information was explained by B. Traven in words which were to become one of his best-known quotations: "The creative person should have no other biography than his works." The German ''

Brockhaus Enzyklopädie The ( German for ''Brockhaus Encyclopedia'') is a German-language encyclopedia which until 2009 was published by the F. A. Brockhaus printing house. The first edition originated in the '' Conversations-Lexikon'' published by Renatus Gotthelf ...

'' devoted an article to him as early as 1934.

List of works

Stand-alone works

* '' The Cotton-Pickers'' (1926; retitled from ''The Wobbly'') * '' The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'' (1927; first English pub. 1935) * ''The Death Ship: The Story of an American Sailor'' (1926; first English pub. 1934) * '' The White Rose'' (1929; first full English pub 1979) * ''The Night Visitor and Other Stories'' (English pub. 1967) * ''The Bridge in the Jungle'' (1929; first English pub. 1938) * ''Land des Frühlings'' (1928) – travel book – untranslated * ''Aslan Norval'' (1960) (English translation published as ebook 2020 ) * ''Stories by the Man Nobody Knows'' (1961) * ''The Kidnapped Saint and Other Stories'' (1975) * ''The Creation of the Sun and the Moon'' (1968)

''The Jungle Novels''

* ''Government'' (1931) * ''The Carreta'' (1931, released in Germany 1930) * ''March to the Monteria'' (a.k.a. ''March to Caobaland'') (1933) * ''Trozas'' (1936) * ''The Rebellion of the Hanged'' (1936; first English pub. 1952) * ''General from the Jungle'' (1940)

Collected stories

* ''Canasta de cuentos mexicanos'' (or ''Canasta of Mexican Stories'', 1956, Mexico City, translated from the English by Rosa Elena Luján)

Films based on works

* '' The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'', 1948 * ''The Rebellion of the Hanged'', 1954 * ''Canasta de cuentos mexicanos'', 1955 * '' The Argonauts'' (Episode of ''

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the (also spelled Tsitsistas, The term for th ...

'' TV series), 1955 * ''Der Banditendoktor'' (TV film), 1957 * '' The Death Ship'', 1959 * '' Macario'' (story "The Third Guest"), 1960 * '' Rosa Blanca'' (novel ''La Rosa Blanca''), 1961 * '' Días de otoño'' (story "Frustration"), 1963 * ''Au verre de l'amitié'', 1970 * ''Die Baumwollpflücker'' (TV series), 1970 * '' The Bridge in the Jungle'', 1971 * ''Kuolemanlaiva'' (TV film), 1983 * ', 1986

Notable illustrations of works

* ''Dödsskeppet'' (''The Death Ship''), Atlantis, Stockholm 1978, and ''Het dodenschip'', Meulenhoff, Amsterdam 1978. Inkdrawings by the Swedish artist Torsten Billman. Unpublished in English.

Works by Ret Marut

* ''To the Honorable Miss S... and other stories'' (1915–19; English publication 1981) * ''Die Fackel des Fürsten'' (novel, Nottingham: Edition Refugium 2009) ; * ''Der Mann Site und die grünglitzernde Frau'' – (novel, Nottingham: Edition Refugium 2009) ;

References

Notes Bibliography * Baumann, Michael L. ''B. Traven: An introduction'', * Baumann, Michael L. ''Mr. Traven, I Presume?'', AuthorHouse, online 1997, * Chankin, Donald O. ''Anonymity and Death: The Fiction of B. Traven'', * Czechanowsky, Thorsten. '' 'Ich bin ein freier Amerikaner, ich werde mich beschweren'. Zur Destruktion des American Dream in B. Travens Roman 'Das Totenschiff' ' '', in: Jochen Vogt/Alexander Stephan (Hg.): Das ''Amerika der Autoren'', München: Fink 2006. * Czechanowsky, Thorsten. ''Die Irrfahrt als Grenzerfahrung. Überlegungen zur Metaphorik der Grenze in B. Travens Roman 'Das Totenschiff' ''in: ''mauerschau'' 1/2008, pp. 47–58. * Dammann, Günter (ed.), ''B. Travens Erzählwerk in der Konstellation von Sprache und Kulturen'', Würzburg, Königshausen & Neumann, 2005; * Giacopini, Vittorio. ''L'arte dell'inganno'', Fandango libri 2001 (in Italian) * * Guthke, Karl S. ''B. Traven. Biografie eines Rätsels'', Frankfurt am Main, Büchergilde Gutenberg, 1987, * Guthke, Karl S. ''"Das Geheimnis um B. Traven entdeckt" – und rätselvoller denn je'', Frankfurt am Main, Büchergilde Gutenberg, 1984, * Hauschild, Jan-Christoph: ''B. Traven – Die unbekannten Jahre.'' Edition Voldemeer, Zürich / Springer, Wien, New York 2012, . * Hauschild, Jan-Christof: Das Phantom: Die fünf Leben des B. Traven. Edition Tiamat 2018 * Heidemann, Gerd. ''Postlagernd Tampico. Die abenteuerliche Suche nach B. Traven'', München, Blanvalet, 1977, * Mezo, Richar Eugene. ''A study of B. Traven's fiction – the journey to Solipaz'', San Francisco, Mellen Research University Press, 1993, * Pateman, Roy. ''The Man Nobody Knows: The Life and Legacy of B. Traven'', 2005, * Raskin, Jonah, ''My Search for B. Traven'', * Recknagel, Rolf. ''B. Traven. Beiträge zur Biografie'', Köln, Röderberg Verlag, 1991, * * Stone, Judy, ''The Mystery of B. Traven'', . * Thunecke, Jörg (ed.) ''B. Traven the Writer / Der Schriftsteller B. Traven'', Edition Refugium: Nottingham 2003, , , * Wyatt, Will. ''The Secret of the Sierra Madre: The Man who was B. Traven'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1985, BBC documentary YouTube links below.

External links

* BBC documentary. B.Traven: A Mystery Solved. 1978 :: :: :: :: :: ::
B. Traven (1890–1969)
Link collection at Socialistisk Bibliotek, Progressive Online Library
B. Traven
Website of the B. Traven Estate * Currently only German-language editions are listed * Helen Tapio

University of Helsinki, Department of History *

, from the ''Anarchist Encyclopedia''
"B. Traven – An Anti-Biography"
biography with pictures from libcom.org * Frank Nordhausen
"Der Fremde in der Calle Mississippi"
''Berliner Zeitung'', March 11, 2000
B. Traven
in ''Lexikon der Anarchie''
The B. Traven Collections
at UC Riverside Libraries * Kurt Tucholsky

(review), ''Die Weltbühne'' of November 25, 1930 * Peter Neuhauser
"Der Mann, der sich B. Traven nennt"
''Die Zeit'', May 12, 1967 * Rolf Cantzen

, SWR Radio broadcast and transcript * Rolf Raasch
"B. Traven: ein deutsch-mexikanischer Mythos"
* Larry Rohter

''The New York Times'', June 25, 1990 * James Goldwasser
''Ret Marut – The Early B. Traven''
*

Chris Harman Christopher John Harman (8 November 1942 – 7 November 2009) was a British journalist and political activist, and a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party. He was an editor of '' International Socialism'' and '' S ...

''B. Traven – Voice of the Hanged''
* Jan-Christoph Hauschild

In: ''

Neue Zürcher Zeitung The (''NZZ''; "New Newspaper of Zurich") is German language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zurich. The paper was founded in 1780. It has a reputation as a high-quality newspaper, as the German Swiss newspaper of record ...

'', August 30, 2009, p. 30. * Jan-Christoph Hauschild
"B. Traven – wer ist dieser Mann?"
In: '' FAZ'', July 17, 2009 * Th
historical residence
of Otto Feige aka Ret Marut aka B. Traven in

Świebodzin Świebodzin (; ) is a town in western Poland with 20,744 inhabitants (2024). It is the capital of Świebodzin County in Lubusz Voivodeship. Świebodzin is an important transportation hub, lying at the crossroads of the Polish National roads in P ...

, Poland. {{DEFAULTSORT:Traven, B. 19th-century births 1960s deaths Year of birth unknown 20th-century anarchists 20th-century pseudonymous writers Anarchist writers Anarcho-syndicalists Forestry in Mexico German anarchists German anti-capitalists German male novelists German socialists Mexican anarchists Mexican male writers Mexican novelists Mexican socialists Mexican syndicalists Proletarian literature Unidentified people