B. Traven

#1

Post by benbreen » Sat, Apr 17, 2021, 6:36 AM UTC

B. Traven
en.wikipedia.org

Re: B. Traven

#2

Post by ggm » Sat, Apr 17, 2021, 7:44 AM UTC

Everybody raves for sierra madre. I think death ship is a better novel in some ways. More constrained. Jack London expose style.

Re: B. Traven

#3

Post by sneak » Sun, Apr 18, 2021, 7:59 PM UTC

I wonder if it is possible today to publish under a pseudonym that will stand the test of history, given what we know about mass surveillance databases.

Re: B. Traven

#4

Post by defen » Sun, Apr 18, 2021, 8:09 PM UTC

I'm experiencing a weird Baader Meinhof Phenomenon variant right now...I just started reading 2666, which concerns itself with (among other things) a mysterious German novelist in Mexico. Very odd to see this story here right now.

Re: B. Traven

#5

Post by willvarfar » Sun, Apr 18, 2021, 8:26 PM UTC

sneak wrote: post #3

I wonder if it is possible today to publish under a pseudonym that will stand the test of history, given what we know about mass surveillance databases.

It will be interesting in the future to find out if the intelligence agencies know who created Bitcoin. Can anyone think of other modern mysteries that government surveillance might know the answer to but are keeping quiet?

Re: B. Traven

#6

Post by johannesgoslar » Sun, Apr 18, 2021, 8:33 PM UTC

ggm wrote: post #2

Everybody raves for sierra madre. I think death ship is a better novel in some ways. More constrained. Jack London expose style.

They are both great books. And both have relevant points for current times. Death Ship has quite interesting analogies to the upcoming (vaccination) passports and resulting society structures and failures. And Sierra Madre has important lessons about companionship. For someone being critically inclined to the "press" reading some of his Ziegelbrenner will be quite interesting.

Re: B. Traven

#7

Post by simonlc » Sun, Apr 18, 2021, 9:18 PM UTC

willvarfar wrote: post #5

sneak wrote: post #3

I wonder if it is possible today to publish under a pseudonym that will stand the test of history, given what we know about mass surveillance databases.

It will be interesting in the future to find out if the intelligence agencies know who created Bitcoin. Can anyone think of other modern mysteries that government surveillance might know the answer to but are keeping quiet?

What if the agencies are the ones that created bitcoin?

Re: B. Traven

#8

Post by starkd » Sun, Apr 18, 2021, 9:21 PM UTC

Wiki mentions his left-wing anarchic persuasion. I admit I've only read "Treasure of the Sierra Madre", but I honestly can't see any political taint to his work. Sure, it highlights the evils of raw capitalism, but, outside of the anarcho-capitalists, I don't think you'll find much argument t here. It's a very fine novel, and has a lot to say about the human condition.

Re: B. Traven

#9

Post by CameronNemo » Sun, Apr 18, 2021, 10:09 PM UTC

simonlc wrote: post #7

willvarfar wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will be interesting in the future to find out if the intelligence agencies know who created Bitcoin. Can anyone think of other modern mysteries that government surveillance might know the answer to but are keeping quiet?

What if the agencies are the ones that created bitcoin?

Or some coal miners in China :/

Re: B. Traven

#10

Post by jeffbee » Sun, Apr 18, 2021, 10:34 PM UTC

This wikipedia article seems very under-sourced, and there are several unsupported instances of "many say" and "some argue", just in the introductory paragraphs. Later there are paragraphs with a number of factual claims and only one source that supports only one or none of them.