The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1927)

A great story of greed and how its effects on people ( )

B Traven has been overlooked by many as a source of great literature about the degradation of human nature. His perspective particularly rings a bell as an exposition of the male mind. This story that begins with the characters in situations that are dehumanizing and yet somehow more humane than where they wind up. The corruption of the mind by greed is breathtaking and completely believable. The correlation to our modern greed driven economy leaves no doubts about the potential, and perhaps inevitable, destruction of human character by lust for money.

Traven has a great way of weaving this massive tale. It in many ways is an extended fairy tale exposing the profits of greed. The writing is not fantastically lyric but the gruffness and simplicity of the text match up well with the stark setting of the novel in the heat of the Mexican sun. The writing also matches well with the characters as they represent our basest elements. This is not a spell-binding tale of high adventure but it is an intense and powerful accusation of how easily people are dehumanized. ( )

Explorer, film-maker and writer Hugh Thomson has chosen to discuss B Traven’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , on FiveBooks (http://five-books.com) as one of the top five on his subject - Mexico, saying that:

“… There is a famous episode when the federales, the police, are challenged because they have no badges and one of them says: ‘We don’t need no stinking badges.’ He sets up this tough, amoral Mexico which presaged the Hollywood westerns that played to the fantasy that if you go south of the border there are no more laws..…”.

The full interview is available here: http://thebrowser.com/books/interviews/hugh-thomson ( )

http://fireandsword.blogspot.com/2006/12/treasure-of-sierra-madre-by-b.html

B. Traven? We don’t got no B. Traven! We don’t need no stinkin’ B. Traven! Which is perhaps apt of a novel overshadowed by its film adaptation and a novelist whose very identity is questioned.