Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 1:08 PM
Went to the library in Hamburg today. The library that it is in is a special collection that is only open for 3 hours a day. Some German guy had all these books in Mexico, then he donated them back to Hamburg, so it was like a Spanish/German library. I dont know, I kind of tuned out when the guy was telling me the history of the library.
I asked the guy working there for the book. He went back to check and said it the cover of it was being repaired. He spoke pretty good English (most educated Europeans do), and he said he would check with his colleague to see if a copy could be emailed to me or something some other time since it is only 23 pages. While I was waiting, there was a guy and a girl talking in front of me in German. I heard them say Esperanza Lopez Mateos so it caught my attention. After the conversation, the lady in the conversation came up to me and asked if I was looking for that book. She told me something about it being a coincidence that I was looking for that book, because that man she was talking to was preparing to speak at a conference about Esperanza and B. Traven. I told her yes, I know she is the translator, and her friend, Henry Schnautz, was my neighbor when I was younger and that was why I was there. So when I told her that, her eyes just kept getting bigger and bigger and she introduced me to the guy, and I told him that Henry used to be my neighbor.
He started telling me about how he was doing research on Esperanza and had found on the internet about Henry. Told him that was my fathers website. Then he started talking to me about all kinds of stuff pertaining to the website and things that he has read on there, I cant remember all of the vivid details, but he knew more than I did about it, so hes definitely spent some time on your website. He said he was studying B. Travens translations into Spanish, and since they were done by Esperanza, that is how he came across the website and he read lots of it because he thought it was very interesting. He said he knows a professor from Germany that teaches at Harvard, and he also said he knows some people at a Traven museum or collection somewhere in California, Riverside maybe. Anyways he says they all know about a relationship between Esperanza and Schnautz, but they all say it is a mystery. Anyways we talked for a while and he was talking about how nobody knows how Esperanza and Traven met, and Esperanzas relationship with Figuero. It was like the guy memorized your website or something. Anyways he asked when it is going to be updated with more things. Should work on that.
I dont know how to make apostrophes with this keyboard. After our conversation, the woman came back with the book. I guess she went and put a cover on it or something. But three people at this tiny tiny section of the library all knew the story. They were telling me it is like a jigsaw puzzle and all that.
The book is attached. The camera doesnt save photos in the exact right order. Ill send another email with the rest of the photos cause there is a limit. If theres a problem with a photo, I took two photos of every page so just tell me.
