Das Totenschiff: Die Geschichte Eine Amerikanischen Seemanns
1926
Das Totenschiff, published in 1926 by B. Traven, follows an American sailor who becomes stateless after missing his ship in Europe. The novel portrays his harrowing experiences with bureaucratic indifference and the struggle for identity in a world defined by rigid national boundaries. Notable for its exploration of alienation and the plight of the working class, it is one of Traven's most acclaimed works, alongside The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and has been translated into multiple languages.
Editions
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“ordinary people can never fall over the walls, because they never dare climb high enough to see what is beyond the walls.””
— B. Traven
“it would have been a rare thing anyhow for an official to come upon an idea that is not provided for in the regulations.””
— B. Traven
“don't ever believe that kings were done with when the fathers of the country made a revolution.””
— B. Traven
“There is no getting used to pain and suffering. You become only hard-boiled, and you lose a certain capacity to be impressed by feelings. Yet no human being will ever become used to sufferings to such an extent that his heart will cease to cry out that eternal prayer of all human beings: “I hope that my Liberator comes!” He is the master of the world, he who can make his coins out of the hope of slaves.””
— B. Traven
“That which was tortured yesterday is the powerful church today and a religion in decay tomorrow. The deplorable thing, the most deplorable thing, is that the people who were tortured yesterday, torture today.””
— B. Traven
“The class I belong to always has to wait and wait, stand long nights and days in long files to get a cup of coffee and a slice of bread. Everybody in the world, official or boss, takes it for granted that our sort of people have ages, of time to waste. It is different with those who have money. They can arrange everything with money. Therefore they never have to wait. We who cannot pay with cold cash have to pay with our time instead.””
— B. Traven
“Do not ask questions! The only real defense civilized man has againstanybody who bothers him is to lie. There would be no lies if there were no questions.””
— B. Traven
“i wonder what goes on night and day beneath the surface of a cemetery.””
— B. Traven
“Can the skipper sail his bucket without sailors? Or can the engineer, no matter how clever he is, build a locomotive without workers? Nevertheless, the worker has to stand with his cap in hand and beg for a job. He has to stand there like a dog about to be beaten.””
— B. Traven
