B. Traven, or Torsvan Traven, Travens Torsvan, BT Torsvan, Backer Traven, Ret Marut, Traven Robert Marut, etc. The list of names or pseudonyms is infinite. The identity of B. Traven lies hidden in Sierra Madre gold as Bogart and Huston found, and lost. Any attempt biography of the author of The Treasure of Sierra Madre is aimed at loose ends, and incidentally to try the patience, and perhaps with health-del to do so. So little to say about this strange character of origin "German, Austrian, English, Croatian, Swedish? They participated in the tumultuous political movements of interwar Europe "brief supporting the Bavarian Soviet republic? "Anarchist militant movements? Disappeared in Mexico without a trace mid-twenties, and for a time was spent on what? Did you work in oil companies, sought gold in the Mexican sierra? The only certainty is that in the late twenties produced a pseudonym, B. Traven, and begins to write successful novels. The best known is the novel that he based the film by John Huston.
B. Traven disappeared into anonymity he sought obsessively. Erased any trace of their true identity. Traven is just a name, could have chosen any other, no one except a very small group of friends knew him, published his novels with agents literary knew nothing of it. After his death in 1969, his widow took part in a first attempt at biography, his own wife was unaware of important aspects of your life. Why the desire for anonymity? The truth is that literature is not the only case, Salinger, Pynchon, are two other illustrious shadow writing (by the way, I know it Pynchon has just published his latest novel in the U.S.). There is some desire for notoriety after the anonymity, playing with expectations, being a mystery, it's all true, but there's more. The novels of B. Traven might be a failure, they were not, but Traven, or TAS that name who was sought anonymity before posting anything, then yes, came success and thus the mystery. Why his wife did not know much of his life? We assume that Traven had nothing to hide "a shameful murder, embezzlement, I am inclined to think who sought anonymity because they themselves, perhaps out of necessity to reinvent itself every day, for the secret pleasure of being nobody, and therefore any thing. That is the pleasure it gives us the anonymity: the possibility. 
I must say something about John Huston's film is one of my favorites, has it all: John Huston, Bogart, Mexico, adventure and gold, gold ah! The gold that corrupts everything, symbol of greed, avarice, can lead to betrayal, to bring out the worst of themselves, but at the same time is something that triggers illusions, greed, adventure, and as usual that gold is present, You end up by returning to the origin. The film is simply extraordinary, it is imperative to see the original version in English and English, with the DVD no problem. Of all the characters I'll take one: Walter Huston, John Huston's father, making a memorable performance: an old Irish prospector, become rich and ruined several times, we know in a miserable shelter of Tampico, and little must insist that the return to play again, jump to adventure and find the symbol of his dreams: gold. How much is the gold? The gold is worth what it costs to find, hopes buried in your search. So much better.
There is an anecdote related to B. Traven and John Huston. During the shooting of the film, Huston expected to see Traven to advise him on the set. Traven did not appear clearly, he did a guy named Hal Croves with the same credentials B. Traven and presented as expert on the work of Traven. Croves Houston and talked a lot of aspects of the film, ran away after two weeks, nobody knew who was Croves, or what was involved in part to represent Traven. The truth is that Huston always suspected that was really Croves ART, or who was behind these two names, and probably was right (the story has been taken from a book by Enrique Vila-Matas).
Valencia, Thursday 21 December. The rain stopped, and thereby also the life of my umbrella when I gave him a Christian burial. Cold morning, little more.
PD Murky discreet negotiations on the warmth of a comfortable room in a European country, a check, others claim, and all betray.
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