»Die Hölle ist ein Paradies...« Das Totenschiff von B. Traven als Symbol nationalstaatlicher Gewalt
"Die Hölle ist ein Paradies..." "Das Totenschiff" (The Ship of the Dead) by B. Traven as a Symbol for the Violence of the Nation State

Summary/Abstract: Loss of identity, civil rights, statelessness, and exploitation are topics explored in B. Traven’s novel "Das Totenschiff" (The Ship of the Dead, 1926) in connection with criticism of bureaucratism, state despotism, and capitalism. The story of a sailor who loses his passport and, with it, all civil rights guaranteed by the nation state, forcing him to board a ship of the dead – a ship that is destined to sink in an insurance fraud –, portrays the sea and mainland as legal spaces. They correspond to different types of violence, the ship symbolizing a crossing point between them and the blurring of boundaries regarding one’s personal freedom.

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