Aslan Norval

by B. Traven, Ana-Isabel Aliaga Buchenau (Translator)

B. Traven’s last novel, first published in 1960 but never before released in English, features a larger-than-life heroine: Ms. Aslan Norval, an American millionairess with Hollywood roots and political schemes up her sleeve

Though Aslan Norval is wealthy beyond measure and contentedly married to an aging businessman, she finds herself tormented with the desire to do something epic, something no man has dared to do: she decides to build a canal across the continental United States. With the help of an uncouth Korean War veteran—whom she appoints as her right-hand man and unlikely lover—she forms a public corporation. A congressional committee of investigators, prodded by lobbyists, tries to stop the venture; but the ensuing publicity arouses the civic-minded public, and “democratic process” insists that the canal be realized as a federal undertaking. Not only will the project relieve chronic unemployment and demobilize the armed forces, but it will also benefit the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, aid world shipping, and relieve the Cold War!

Rediscovered after B. Traven’s death in 1969, Aslan Norval is a hidden gem now unearthed—the final novel from the brilliant and beloved mind behind the cult classic The Treasure of the Sierra Madre—shedding new light on the life and work of a mysterious literary giant.

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First published January 1, 1960

About the author

B. 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.

Reviews

[Jim Serfling · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ever since discovering a copy of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre several years ago in a used book store, I’ve been a fan of B. Traven. Not only have I thoroughly enjoyed his books, but I’m intrigued by the enigma surrounding the man himself. I’ve read virtually everything he’s written—what’s been translated into English, anyway…

So imagine my excitement when I learned that his last book, Aslan Norval, had FINALLY been translated from German after 60 years. (Spoiler alert: it has nothing to do with a talking lion.)

Now imagine my crushing disappointment when I found it to be a vapid, pointless piece of Scheisse. It was so weirdly different in style and theme from his other books that it left me going “huh?” (I’m not alone in this reaction; others have even speculated that it’s so out there, it must have been written by another person, adding yet another dash of secret sauce to the mystery burrito of B. Traven’s true identity.)

Maybe it should have stayed in German.

[Bimbo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Druga Travnova knjiga, ki ji dajem najvišjo oceno. Ne toliko zaradi sloga kot zaradi (po mojem mnenju) bistrovidne fabule, ki je danes najbrž prav tako aktualna kot leta 1959, ko naj bi jo dokončal. Lahkotno branje, čisti užitek in nekaj zabave ob arhaičnosti in drobnih spodrsljajih prevoda izpred 50 let. Malo površna? Da, tudi.

[Steve Carter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Please read one of Traven's great novels. Any of them, the jungle novels in particular. This very late work only recently translated to English is just not good. I wish it was better. Makes me doubt that it is even really the mysterious writer's work.