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Jungle Novels #3
March to the Monteria
March to the Montería is the third of B. Traven's six Jungle Novels, set in the great mahogany plantations (monterías) of Mexico in the years before the revolution. Here Traven relates the life of Celso, a young Indian whose only goal is to earn enough pesos to purchase a bride. He works two years on a coffee finca, but when he returns home he must hand over his money to ladinos who claim his father has a debt to them. Celso then goes off to work two years in a montería―but he is such a good worker that he is thrown in jail on a trumped-up charge to assure that he will stay. When he is bailed out by the labor agent, he heads off for a term of debt-slavery in the montería, from which, it is clear, he will never return. Having already forfeited his life, Celso has nothing to lose and takes his vengeance on agents and overseers. As in the other Jungle Novels, Traven traces the beginnings of consciousness which ultimately led to the Mexican Revolution and the overthrow of the Díaz regime.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1933
3 people are currently reading
162 people want to read
About the author
B. Traven
115 books253 followersB. Traven was the pen name of a German novelist, whose real name, nationality, date and place of birth and details of biography are all subject to dispute. A rare certainty is that B. Traven lived much of his life in Mexico, where the majority of his fiction is also set—including his best-known work, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1927), which was adapted as the Academy Award nominated film of the same name in 1948.
Virtually every detail of Traven's life has been disputed and hotly debated. There were many hypotheses on the true identity of B. Traven, some of them wildly fantastic. Most agree, that Traven was Ret Marut, a German stage actor and anarchist, who supposedly left Europe for Mexico around 1924. There are also reasons to believe that Marut/Traven's real name was Otto Feige and that he was born in Schwiebus in Brandenburg, modern day Świebodzin in Poland. B. Traven in Mexico is also connected with Berick Traven Torsvan and Hal Croves, both of whom appeared and acted in different periods of the writer's life. Both, however, denied being Traven and claimed that they were his literary agents only, representing him in contacts with his publishers.
B. Traven is the author of twelve novels, one book of reportage and several short stories, in which the sensational and adventure subjects combine with a critical attitude towards capitalism, betraying the socialist and even anarchist sympathies of the writer. B. Traven's best known works include the novels The Death Ship from 1926 and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre from 1927, in 1948 filmed by John Huston, and the so-called Jungle Novels, also known as the Caoba cyclus (from the Spanish word caoba, meaning mahogany), a group of six novels (including The Carreta, Government), published in the years 1930-1939, set among Mexican Indians just before and during the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century. B. Traven's novels and short stories became very popular as early as the interwar period and retained this popularity after the war; they were also translated into many languages. Most of B. Traven's books were published in German first and their English editions appeared later; nevertheless the author always claimed that the English versions were the original ones and that the German versions were only their translations. This claim is not taken seriously.
Virtually every detail of Traven's life has been disputed and hotly debated. There were many hypotheses on the true identity of B. Traven, some of them wildly fantastic. Most agree, that Traven was Ret Marut, a German stage actor and anarchist, who supposedly left Europe for Mexico around 1924. There are also reasons to believe that Marut/Traven's real name was Otto Feige and that he was born in Schwiebus in Brandenburg, modern day Świebodzin in Poland. B. Traven in Mexico is also connected with Berick Traven Torsvan and Hal Croves, both of whom appeared and acted in different periods of the writer's life. Both, however, denied being Traven and claimed that they were his literary agents only, representing him in contacts with his publishers.
B. Traven is the author of twelve novels, one book of reportage and several short stories, in which the sensational and adventure subjects combine with a critical attitude towards capitalism, betraying the socialist and even anarchist sympathies of the writer. B. Traven's best known works include the novels The Death Ship from 1926 and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre from 1927, in 1948 filmed by John Huston, and the so-called Jungle Novels, also known as the Caoba cyclus (from the Spanish word caoba, meaning mahogany), a group of six novels (including The Carreta, Government), published in the years 1930-1939, set among Mexican Indians just before and during the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century. B. Traven's novels and short stories became very popular as early as the interwar period and retained this popularity after the war; they were also translated into many languages. Most of B. Traven's books were published in German first and their English editions appeared later; nevertheless the author always claimed that the English versions were the original ones and that the German versions were only their translations. This claim is not taken seriously.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 2, 2018
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I've said it before, or if I haven't said it, I meant to say it: B.Traven writes with a machete. He cuts sentences in English the way one cuts his way through thicket and jungle. He knows where he is going and he's going there. He spends no time gardening the sides of his road. He has a country, an era, a social class to depict and he depicts it. Everything else, what sunsets look like in Mexico, why men turn bitter when they grow old or what women want, is not his problem. There isn't a single female character of any significance in his books.
B.Traven is not for everyone. But he is for me. He is brutal but accurate, he is angry but lucid and his sentence has a strange rhythm to it. It is a stampede rather than a dance. It could not be further from the rhythm of a Proust, whom I also read at the moment. But the rhythm is his, undeniably his, nobody else's, so distinctive that, reading him, one can hear his German accent. The Carreta, his previous volume, had left me dissatisfied. March To The Monteria has fixed that. His characters have purpose and dimensions - granted, machete-style dimensions. But his story develops, engages and leaves a trail that I want to follow.
I've said it before, or if I haven't said it, I meant to say it: B.Traven writes with a machete. He cuts sentences in English the way one cuts his way through thicket and jungle. He knows where he is going and he's going there. He spends no time gardening the sides of his road. He has a country, an era, a social class to depict and he depicts it. Everything else, what sunsets look like in Mexico, why men turn bitter when they grow old or what women want, is not his problem. There isn't a single female character of any significance in his books.
B.Traven is not for everyone. But he is for me. He is brutal but accurate, he is angry but lucid and his sentence has a strange rhythm to it. It is a stampede rather than a dance. It could not be further from the rhythm of a Proust, whom I also read at the moment. But the rhythm is his, undeniably his, nobody else's, so distinctive that, reading him, one can hear his German accent. The Carreta, his previous volume, had left me dissatisfied. March To The Monteria has fixed that. His characters have purpose and dimensions - granted, machete-style dimensions. But his story develops, engages and leaves a trail that I want to follow.
August 9, 2025
4.5 stars, best one of the series so far! the slow simmer towards the Mexican revolution continues. There is some much needed release of tension towards the end of the book.
The book starts off by following a new character, Celso, who has to go to work in the monterias (jungle mahogany lumber yards) after being scammed of all his money by some exploitative landowner. He works there and survives for two years and gets very strong. He tries to leave but gets tricked into another 2 year contract, which means he will lose the chance to marry this girl back home he had been saving money for. This starts the slow simmer of resentment in him... He meets up with Andrés, from the 2nd book, on his way back to the camps.
I'm excited to read about what revolutionary shenanigans these two will get up to next!
The book starts off by following a new character, Celso, who has to go to work in the monterias (jungle mahogany lumber yards) after being scammed of all his money by some exploitative landowner. He works there and survives for two years and gets very strong. He tries to leave but gets tricked into another 2 year contract, which means he will lose the chance to marry this girl back home he had been saving money for. This starts the slow simmer of resentment in him... He meets up with Andrés, from the 2nd book, on his way back to the camps.
I'm excited to read about what revolutionary shenanigans these two will get up to next!
January 4, 2018
The third of Traven's Jungle novels is not quite as good as the first ('Government') but better than the second ('The Carretta'). This is where Traven begins to weave the threads together - Don Gabriel from the first book and Andres from the second both reappear, although the main character, Celso, is new. The story of how his humble ambition to marry and have children is continually thwarted by the system is an extremely compelling one and a brilliant piece of story-telling which will keep you turning the pages.
March 10, 2023
A young Mexican is victimized by a corrupt capitalist system. It's sort of The Grapes of Wrath of Mexico.
Only three stars because I felt that the narrative seemed to lose focus.
I did learn the difference between a Muchacho and a Caballero. A Muchacho is a young man, while a Caballero is a gentleman.
Only three stars because I felt that the narrative seemed to lose focus.
I did learn the difference between a Muchacho and a Caballero. A Muchacho is a young man, while a Caballero is a gentleman.
November 20, 2017
making my way through "the jungle" series. definitely my favorite of the three so far. the government was good, the carreta was a bit slow, but march to the monteria was great. fast paced. looking forward to the next three in the series.
June 9, 2020
The story of a migrant worker inside Mexico by the man who wrote THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE. Traven write about Mexico like an anthropologist gone native. He never disappoints me.
September 4, 2025
"and if I can't go back to my girl, what's the use of going anywhere else?"
April 1, 2014
Amazing read
May 1, 2015
A powerful, hopeless, angry, resigned, rebellious smoldering story of Mexican Indigenous workers during the Diaz era. One of The Jungle Novels (#3).
December 17, 2015
Also known as "The March to Caobaland," of the Jungle Novels.
April 25, 2017
Superb adventure. I was slightly put off by the lengthy description of how Mexican people eat with tortillas. Who was that written for? As a Mexican person, that just seemed so strange to me.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews