[Item #46269] Der Wobbly. B. TRAVEN.

Der Wobbly

Berlin: Buchmeister-Verlag, 1926. First Edition. Octavo (24cm.); publisher's orange cloth lettered in black; 184pp. Light scuffing at spine ends, board very slightly bowed, else Very Good or better, internally fine.

Labor novel first serialized in a Berlin newspaper as "Die Baumwollpflücker" ("The Cotton-Pickers"). The first half of the novel is set on a cotton farm among its workers who organize a successful, but ultimately fruitless, strike. The second half of the tale moves to the port city of Tampico, where the protagonist Gales works first as a baker and then a cattle driver, simultaneously witnessing a number of more successful strikes than that of the first section. Though the members of the Union of Restaurant Employees thrive, Gales discovers that he is happiest with the independence of the cattle driver. The title of the published work, "The Wobbly," is based on several accusations levelled at Gales that he is a "Wobbly," something he always denies though the text hints that he may be so. (For more information see Richard Eugene Mezo's "A Study of B. Traven's Fiction" (1993), pp. [31]-33).

Price: $75.00

Go Back