Presumed Portrait of B. TravenIn a Technical Sense. Webster’s hand hesitated on Karen Novotny’s zip. He listened to the last bars of the Mahler symphony playing on the radiogram extension in the warm bedroom. ‘The bomber crashed on landing,’ he explained. ‘Four members of the crew were killed. He was alive when they got him out, but at one point in the operating theatre his heart and vital organs failed. In a technical sense he was dead for about two minutes. Now, all this time, it looks as if something is missing, something that vanished during the short period of his death. Perhaps his soul, the capacity to achieve a state of grace. Nathan would call it the ability to accept the phenomenology of the universe, or the fact of your own consciousness. This is Traven’s hell.’
Talbot. Another face of the central character of The Atrocity Exhibition. The core identity is Traven, a name taken consciously from B.Traven, a writer I’ve always admired for his extreme reclusiveness-so completely at odds with the logic of our own age, when even the concept of privacy is constructed from publicly circulating materials. It is now almost impossible to be ourselves except on the world’s terms.
Hmmm… well I have this weeks post planned… hopefully have time to get back to T.F, I am eager to get back to writing fiction again… I am reading again which is good because I always feel off centred when I am not reading
Do you like Traven for his writing or his obscurity? đŸ˜‰ I’ve never read his work.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Both… I am planning to do a post at some point..,the treasure of the sierra master is a classic and the death ship is also good
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I’ve heard of them, just never read…
LikeLiked by 1 person
And it is more mystery than obscurity… he was so reclusive he made Pynchon seem like Warhol
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, the confusion over his identity. It is pretty amazing that he was able to keep it a secret (more or less) and there remain questions even now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The novels in German contain Americanisms and the English versions Germanisms…a true anarchist.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And he claimed the German ones were the ones translated right?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes he said he was American… but he was probably a German anarchist who ended up in Mexico…Hemingway would have died to have his writing style
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is a crazy life…
LikeLiked by 1 person
The series set in Mexico is required reading in Mexican schools
LikeLiked by 1 person
Impressive! I should practice my Spanish…
LikeLiked by 1 person
My favourite theory is that B.Traven was actually Arthur Craven (The Colossus of Dada).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Falling asleep, g’night Cake.
LikeLiked by 1 person
But those comments are by Ballard by the way
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aha… ok, I see. Annotations. I call jet lag as an excuse.
LikeLiked by 1 person
No need to apologise… ever.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Cake. You are sweet! (But I won’t call you cupcake! promise.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hmmmm I think I will go back to being spiky
LikeLiked by 1 person
No you don’t!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes I do
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ouch!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hmmm… well I have this weeks post planned… hopefully have time to get back to T.F, I am eager to get back to writing fiction again… I am reading again which is good because I always feel off centred when I am not reading
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good! I am looking forward to TF again!
LikeLiked by 1 person
So am I… though don’t hold your breath, you know how flaky I am.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re funny, alright regular breathing for now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good because I don’t want you to die
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hahaha!
LikeLiked by 1 person