Jungle Novels
1 primary work • 9 total works
Book 5
The Rebellion of the Hanged is the fifth of B. Traven's six legendary Jungle Novels which together form an epic of the birth of the Mexican Revolution. Set in the slave-labor mahogany plantations of tropical Mexico in 1910, at the time of the uprising against the rule of Porfirio Díaz and the beginnings of revolution, Rebellion is a powerful and somber tale of the tortures suffered by downtrodden Indians. But here it culminates in a revolt by the long-oppressed workers against the owners and overseers of the camps, and in a treacherous march through the jungles at the height of the rainy season—a human feat of epic proportions. In addition to his great storytelling ability, Traven's work has a special resonance today because of recent uprisings in the Chiapas highlands of southern Mexico, the very locale for many of Traven's writings. "Readers who ignore the genius of B. Traven do so at their peril."—New York Times Book Review. "Traven is a riveting storyteller."—Philadelphia Inquirer.
Here are ten of B. Traven's remarkable short stories. Three of them are long stories: The setting of "The Night Visitor" is a hacienda deep in the Mexican bush where a lonely American recreates in his imagination an eerie world of Indian folk legend. "The Cattle Drive" is a vivid description of a cowboy's trek with a thousand head of cattle across the Mexican plains; it has all the authenticity that Hollywood Westerns lack. "Macario," which was made into a prize-winning motion picture, is a wry Mexican fable about an Indian woodcutter who makes a compact with the devil to save his family from starvation. Among seven shorter stories, some are based on incidents from contemporary Mexican life, others on ancient Indian folk legends. All have spontaneity, humor, and warmth. "B. Traven is coming to be recognized as one of the narrative masters of the twentieth century."—New York Times Book Review.
March to the Montería is the third of B. Traven's six Jungle Novels, set in the great mahogany plantations (monterías) of Mexico in the years before the revolution. Here Traven relates the life of Celso, a young Indian whose only goal is to earn enough pesos to purchase a bride. He works two years on a coffee finca, but when he returns home he must hand over his money to ladinos who claim his father has a debt to them. Celso then goes off to work two years in a montería—but he is such a good worker that he is thrown in jail on a trumped-up charge to assure that he will stay. When he is bailed out by the labor agent, he heads off for a term of debt-slavery in the montería, from which, it is clear, he will never return. Having already forfeited his life, Celso has nothing to lose and takes his vengeance on agents and overseers. As in the other Jungle Novels, Traven traces the beginnings of consciousness which ultimately led to the Mexican Revolution and the overthrow of the Díaz regime.
The Carreta is the second of B. Traven's six Jungle Novels which together form an epic of the birth of the Mexican Revolution. The young Indian who is the hero of The Carreta is an ox-cart driver. More sophisticated than most of his companions who work in debt-slavery in the great mahogany plantations, Andrés can read and hopes to go back to his wife. But he labors with no awareness of how really impossible this is. Pressing down on him is the plight of his father, who was also sold to the montería. Andrés believes he can never return to his wife until he repays his father's debt. Traven's purpose in the Jungle Novels is to describe the conditions of a people who are ripe for revolt, and to trace the beginnings of consciousness which result in the determination to revolt. In The Carreta he brings his remarkable narrative talents to bear on the coming of age of Andrés and the oppressive world in which he finds he must make his way. "Traven is a very great writer .... His work must be read."—New York Times Book Review.
The locale is "huts by the river," a nameless Indian settlement deep in the Mexican bush, too small to appear on any map. Just as a party that has attracted many Indians from neighboring settlements is about to begin, death marches silently in. A small boy has disappeared. As the intimation of tragedy spreads among the people gathered in the jungle clearing, they unite, first to find the lost boy and then to console the grieving mother. The Bridge in the Jungle, regarded by many as B. Traven's finest novel, is a tale of how a simple, desperately poor people come together in the face of death. Traven never allows an iota of sentimentality to enter his story, but the reader finishes the book with renewed faith in the courage and dignity of human beings. "B. Traven is coming to be recognized as one of the narrative masters of the twentieth century."—New York Times Book Review. "Great storytellers often arise like Judaic just men to exemplify and rehearse the truth for their generation. The elusive B. Traven was such a man."—Book World.
In the 1930s B. Traven wrote an epic of the birth of the Mexican revolution in what have become known as the "Jungle Novels." Government is the first of the six novels that comprise the series. Depicting the political corruption that infected even the smallest villages in Mexico, the novel tells the story of Don Gabriel, a minor government functionary who has a virtual license to steal from the Indian village where he is secretary—except that the Indians have nothing to steal. By chance he finds an opportunity in the labor agent business, shanghaiing luckless Indians into debt-slavery so that he can ship them off to work in the great mahogany plantations owned by foreign capital. The novel reaches a moving climax in a clash of cultures between the simple dignity of the illiterate Indians and the cynicism and corruption of the politicians and petty bureaucrats. "Traven is a very great writer.... His work must be read."—New York Times Book Review.
With General from the Jungle, the sixth and last of B. Traven's legendary Jungle Novels, Ivan R Dee completes the republication of this multivolume fictional epic of the birth of the Mexican Revolution. In General, a masterpiece on guerrilla warfare, Traven tells the story of Juan Mendez, perhaps the youngest and greatest of the Indian rebel chieftains, who leads an ill-equipped and hungry band against the government forces. With brilliance and cunning, Mendez brutally attacks the federally protected fincas. The book is filled with marvelously drawn characters, yet the true hero is the army itself—illiterate, uneducated, and poor, but resourceful and dangerous. Beyond his great storytelling, Traven's work has a special resonance today because of recent uprisings in the Chiapas highlands of southern Mexico, the very locale of his writings.
The background of The Cotton-Pickers, set in Mexico in the 1920s, is the struggle of the emerging trade unions to end the exploitation of hungry laborers. Gales, a laconic American drifter, turns his hand to anything for a meal and a flea-bitten bunk—he works on a cotton plantation, in an oil field, in a bakery, as a cowboy for a North American ranch owner. Opposing exploitation, he leaves behind him a trail of rebellion. Underlying this lively and funny tale of his adventures is a powerful study of social injustice, and most of all a testament to the strength of human courage and dignity one of Traven’s favorite themes. "B. Traven is coming to be recognized as one of the narrative masters of the twentieth century."—New York Times Book Review. "Great storytellers often arise like Judaic just men to exemplify and rehearse the truth for their generation. The elusive B. Traven was just such a man."—Book World.
With the first publication in English of Trozas, B. Traven's legendary Jungle Novels, an epic of the birth of the Mexican Revolution, are complete. Trozas is the fourth of the six Jungle Novels that describe the conditions of peonage and debt slavery under which Mexican Indians suffered during the reign of Porfirio Díaz. The main character of the novel is a young Indian named Andrés Ugaldo, a virtual slave worker in a montería—-mahogany plantation—which is purchased by the profit ?hungry Montellano brothers, widely despised for their brutal treatment of workers. The demands on Andrés and his companions exceed even the usual insufferable conditions in the montería. Trozas (the word means "logs") captures the origins of the rebellious spirit that slowly spread through the labor camps and haciendas, culminating in the bloody revolt that ended Díaz's rule. Traven masterfully evokes the backbreaking daily routine of the montería, brings alive the players in this sordid drama, and tells the story in riveting narrative.