Some of the names Traven used: B. Traven Arnolds Barker Hal Croves Traven Torsvan Traves Torsvan Traven Torsvan Torsvan Traven Torsvan Croves B. T. Torsvan Ret Marut Fred Maruth Fred Mareth Red Marut Rex Marut Richard Maurhut Albert Otto Max Wienecke Adolf Rudolph Feige Kraus Martinez Fred Gaudet Lainger Goetz Ohly Anton Räderscheidt Robert Bek-Gran Hugo Kronthal Wilhelm Scheider Heinrich Otto Becker Et al.

Some occupations pursued or claimed: Writer Actor Photographer Theatrical agent Merchant seaman Explorer Fruit Farmer Soldier Some nationalities English American Swedish Norwegian Lithuanian German Mexican Etc.

B. Traven is an internationally best selling & highly-regarded author virtually unknown in America.

In 1934, The Death Ship was issued in English, followed by The Treasure of The Sierra Madre (1935), The Bridge in The Jungle (1938) & one of his jungle novels, The Rebellion of The Hanged (1952).

Two of Traven's works, Land Des Fruhlings (Land of Springtime) & Aslan Norval remain untranslated.

As a young man Traven went by the name Ret Marut, & published an underground anarchist journal, Der Ziegelbrenner (The Brick Burner) in Germany.

A Stirnerite anarchist, Marut joined the Bavarian Soviet of 1919 with Gustav Landauer & other anarchists.

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B. Traven lives (1882?-1969), Posnanie, Poland. Anarchist author, aka Ret Marut, Hal Croves, Bruno Traven, Traven Torsvan, Otto Feige. Spent a portion of his life hiding his tracks, changing identity, country, & jobs. Daily Bleed Saint November 13.

Marut/Traven published the anarchist Munich newspaper Der Ziegelbrenner between 1917 & 1921. With the proclamation of the Republic of Bavaria, April 7, 1919, Ret Marut worked with fellow anarchists Gustav Landauer & Eric Mühsam . The Republic was suppressed shortly thereafter & a terrible repression followed.

His first novel The Death Ship appeared under the name B. Traven. The majority of Traven's novels, on the surface adventure books, reveal the sources & conditions which spark revolt: The Treasure of the Sierra Madres; Revolt of the Hanged; White Rose, etc. Extracts of Der Ziegelbrenner were published in French in 1994, as In the Freest State of the World.

recollectionbooks.com/siml/library/favenovels.htm

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Novelist noted as a writer of adventure stories & as a chronicler of rural life in Mexico. A recluse, Traven refused personal data to publishers; hence many theories have arisen as to his parentage, his nationality, & his general identity. Most of his books were originally written in German & first published in Germany.

Traven, if known at all to Americans, is due largely to John Huston's fine film of The Treasure of The Sierra Madre, starring Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston & Tim Holt. By the 1930's Traven was published in hundreds of editions in dozens of languages worldwide, save England & the United States — an internationally best selling author virtually unknown in this country. In 1934, The Death Ship was issued in English, followed by The Treasure of The Sierra Madre (1935), The Bridge in The Jungle (1938) & one of his jungle novels, The Rebellion of The Hanged (1952).

"I have not the slightest literary ambition. I am not a writer, I shout. I want to be nothing but — the word."

Two of Traven's works, Land Des Fruhlings (Land of Springtime) & Aslan Norval remain untranslated. Nothing is known of virtually the first 20 years of Traven's life.

As a young man he went by the name Ret Marut, & published an underground anarchist magazine, Der Ziegelbrenner (The Brickburner — as in the profession of making bricks) in Germany.

A Stirnerite anarchist, Marut joined the Bavarian Soviet of 1919 with Gustav Landauer & other anarchists. Escaping a death sentence in Munich, he disappeared, only to reappear in a British prison. Eventually he ended up in Mexico, & sent manuscripts in German to the publisher Das Buchengild.

When John Huston began filming The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, a so-called agent of Traven's — Hal Croves — showed up, whom Huston believed to be Traven.

Traven continuously invented new identities & denied his German origin, until his death in 1969, whereupon his ashes were scattered over Chiapas, Mexico.

"The creative person should have no other biography than his works."

http://www.torget.se/users/c/Chilli/BTintro.htm
An excellent B. Traven Page can be found at Anok & Peace,
http://noleaders.net/anok/features/btraven.htm

See also:

In-depth article from the Finnish Authors' Calendar

http://www.thing.net/~rdom/zapsTactical/zaps.html

B. Traven Collection, Rivera Library at UCR, http://lib-www.ucr.edu/spec_coll/traven.html
http://people.freenet.de/litera/traven.htm
http://www.dreamgarden.com/ksb/authors/traven.html
http://www.wasserburg-inn.de/herbert-huber/HHL45.htm
http://user.berlin.de/~dr.seltsam/btraven.html
http://www.operamundi.com.mx/2000/ago/002/boris.htm
http://brittanica.com/bcom/eb/article/4/0,5716,75164+1+73253,00.html
http://mail.jinbo.net/inter-picis/msg00397.htm

B. Traven (1882?-1969) - names associated with Traven: Ret Marut, Hal Croves, Traven Torsvan, Bruno Traven, Arnold, Barker, Feige, Kraus, Lainger, Wienecke and Ziegelbrenner - Traven Torsvan, born in Chicago on May 3, 1890 - Hermann Albert Otto Maximilian Feige? -- birth date perhaps February 23, 1882?, in some sources May 3, 1890 and March 5, 1890

 

"The ennoblement of humankind, the creation of true culture, begins with the elimination & the utter annihilation of the press. In this, every application of violence, every act of sabotage & destruction is justified ...

http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/09ref.htm#01/1917

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Last updated March 2003

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