The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
by B. Traven
List Price:
Our Price: $4.44
You Save: $11.56 (72%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: B. TravenEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1984-06-01
ISBN: 0809001608
Number of pages: 308
Publisher: Hill and Wang
Book Reviews of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Book Review: Greedy unfriendly bums take a Mexican Holiday
Summary: 5 Stars
After reading this book, I was amazed at the drift and contrasting focus of this book. At first, I could not figure out whether the first passages are meant to introduce us to our heroic protagonist so as to have him remain a hero. Did he mean for the main character, Dobbs, to be a hero? While in South America, a victim of oil company greed, Dobbs is somewhat likeable and is an everyman as a bum. Then Traven carries the story into the gold mines of Mexico and gradually allows him to deteriorate into a greed driven paranoid maniac. Was this a drift in the writer's original intention? We are left wondering whether he meant to take the character of Dobb, a vagabond American, and transform him from a relatively hopeful bum struggling to survive in Latin American into a greed possessed and self destructive monstrosity. The ugly male dialogue is full of nasty testosterone and competition. Males on the margin communicate very directly with each other, as evidenced by Traven's colorful insults. Whereas some critiques point out that his male to male stuggles are similar to Earnest Hemingway; others indicate he has developed the social consciousness and economic context surrounding his characters like Upton Sinclair. I would like to point out that his talent for embedding stories within stories is similar to the English writer, A.S. Byatt. His embedded stories are swift tangents, totally relevant to the movement of the main theme, and yet a distanced commentary. For example, one story is about a hard scrappy widow women gold miner who brings her gold to the capital fighting every kind of low class riff raft and thieves as she makes her way out of the jungle and into civilization. Yet, the upper class steal her fortune and cause her to disappear. A cautionary tale that greed is far beyond class lines and in fact may even be less openly evident in the wealthy, but surely just as deadly. The character of Howard, the man who has learned through trail and error to control his greed so as to keep his life was developed beautifully by Traven. He seems too mature and wise to be true and yet he remains true. The novel can be taken at various levels. A structural approach would see all the characters as victims of economic oppression, fighting each other like rats in a jar. Yet the individual character development would argue against this interpretation. Dobbs became evil, Howard remained sane. I found the book to be excellent. Tension filled, strong dialogue, unexpected character development, socially conscious, culturally reflective, rough, and elegant in its time honored message.
Summary of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Treasure of Sierra Madre is the literary masterpiece for America's pop mythology of the Wild West. A savagely ironic novel, it follows the rugged adventure of three Americans hunting for gold in the mountains of Mexico who find themselves caught in a morality tale of greed and betrayal. Originally published in 1935, the book has captivated millions of readers, including the director John Huston, who immortalized it in his 1948 film starring Humphrey Bogart. This is a timeless story that has much to teach us, for, as we all know, finding the treasure is always secondary to the hunt.
Westerns Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Westerns Books
Showdown at Yellow Butteby Louis L'Amour
Random House Audio; Published: 2011-10-11; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $12.08
Price in other shops:
Hey, Cowgirl, Need a Ride?by Baxter Black
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2006-10-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.92
Price in other shops:
Range Warby Lee Floren
Barrie & Jenkins; Published: 1976-02; Hardcover; Book
Savage Gunby Dan Stewart
H Jenkins; Published: 1977-01-27; Hardcover; Book
Bandit Trailby Matt Winstan
H Jenkins; Published: 1974-05-09; Hardcover; Book
With These Handsby Louis L'Amour
Bantam; Published: 2002-04-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.82
Price in other shops:
With These Handsby Louis L'Amour
Bantam; Published: 2003-04-29; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.67
Price in other shops:
Blue Sage (Harlequin American Romance #213)by Anne Stuart
Harlequin; Published: 1987-08-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.75
These Is My Wordsby Nancy Turner
Hodder and Stoughten; Published: 1998; Paperback; Book
Fools Crow (Contemporary American Fiction)by James Welch
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1987-11-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Night Visitor: And Other Stories (Jungle Novels)by B. Traven
Ivan R Dee; Published: 1993-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.10
Price in other shops:
The Narrative of Cabeza de Vacaby Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca
University of Nebraska Press; Published: 2003-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.97
Price in other shops:
Far from the Madding Crowdby Thomas Hardy
Bantam Classics; Published: 1983-06-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.85
Price in other shops:
The Scarlet Pimpernel (Signet Classics)by Baroness Orczy Emmuska, Gary Hoppenstand
Signet Classics; Published: 2000-05-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops:
A Room with a View (Bantam Classics)by E.M. Forster
Bantam Classics; Published: 1988-08-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops:
The Third Man and The Fallen Idol (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin)by Graham Greene
Penguin Classics; Published: 1992-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.41
Price in other shops:
Treasure of the Sierra MadreWHV; Release date: 2010-11-23; DVD
Best price: $4.16
Price in other shops:
The Death Shipby B. Traven
Lawrence Hill Books; Published: 1991-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.47
Price in other shops:
The Big Book of Adventure Stories (Vintage Original)Vintage; Published: 2011-05-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.99
Price in other shops: