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 DÃaz. The main character of the novel is a young Indian named Andrés Ugaldo, a virtual slave worker in a monterÃa--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 monterÃa. 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 DÃaz's rule. Traven masterfully evokes the backbreaking daily routine of the monterÃa, brings alive the players in this sordid drama, and tells the story in riveting narrative.
Publishers Weekly,Best known for his adventure classic The Treasure of Sierra Madre , the mysterious Traven (1890-1969), who wrote in German but was probably American-born, also created a six-volume series of Jungle Novels about the Mexican Revolution, of which this is the fourth installment. Never before translated into English, it displays the author's customary disdain for authority and sympathy for the oppressed while painting a devastating, painfully detailed picture of conditions on a mahogany plantation in the southern province of Chiapas. The vicious Montellano brothers, a trio of Spaniards who are not really related, take over the plantation and begin brutalizing the workers, among them Andres Ugaldo, a young Indian with a growing sense of self-worth; Celso Flores, a skilled, experienced slave laborer whom even the cruel overseers dare not push too far; and Vincente, a mere boy forced to do a man's work to pay his family's debts. Meanwhile, a mysterious singer in the darkness hints of the revolution to come. Not for everyone, and more a long narrative episode than a conventional story with a resolution, this nonetheless offers a fascinating look at a terrible place and time. Over the next two years, Dee will issue paperback editions of the other five Jungle Novels. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
