Karl Friedrich May ( , ; 25 February 1842 – 30 March 1912) was a German author. He is best known for his novels of travels and adventures, set in the

American Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

, the

Orient The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

, the Middle East, Latin America, China and Germany. He also wrote poetry, a play, and composed music. He was a proficient player of several musical instruments. Many of his works were adapted for film, theatre,

audio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

s and comics. Later in his career, May turned to philosophical and spiritual genres. He is one of the best-selling German writers of all time, with about 200,000,000 copies sold worldwide.

Early life

May was the fifth child of a poor family of

weavers Weaver or Weavers may refer to: Activities * A person who engages in weaving fabric Animals * Various birds of the family Ploceidae * Crevice weaver spider family * Orb-weaver spider family * Weever (or weever-fish) Arts and entertainment ...

in Ernstthal, Schönburgische Rezessherrschaften (then part of the

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony () was a German monarchy in Central Europe between 1806 and 1918, the successor of the Electorate of Saxony. It joined the Confederation of the Rhine after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, later joining the German ...

). He had 13 siblings, of whom nine died in infancy. His parents were Heinrich August May and Wilhelmine Christiane Weise. During his school years, he received instruction in music and

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

. At age twelve, May was making money at a skittle alley, where he was exposed to rough language.May K. ''Mein Leben und Streben'' (''My Life and Aspirations'') Karl May, 2014 in German .

Delinquency

In 1856, May commenced teacher training in Waldenburg, but in 1859 was expelled for stealing six candles. After an appeal, he was allowed to continue in

Plauen Plauen (; ; ) is a town in Saxony, Germany with a population of around 65,000. It is Saxony's 5th most populated city after Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Zwickau, the second-largest city of the Vogtland after Gera, as well as the largest cit ...

. Shortly after graduation, when his roommate accused him of stealing a watch, May was jailed in

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

for six weeks and his license to teach was revoked. After this, May worked with little success as a private tutor, an author of tales, a composer and a public speaker. For four years, from 1865 to 1869, May was jailed in the workhouse at Osterstein Castle,

Zwickau Zwickau (; ) is the fourth-largest city of Saxony, Germany, after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz, with around 88,000 inhabitants,. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ''Zwickauer Mulde''; progression: ), ...

. With good behaviour, May became an administrator of the prison library, which gave him the chance to read widely. He made a list of the works he planned to write (''Repertorium C. May''.) On his release, May continued his life of crime, impersonating various characters (policemen, doctors etc.) and spinning fantastic tales as a method of fraud. He was arrested, but when he was transported to a crime scene during a judicial investigation, he escaped and fled to

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

, where he was detained for vagrancy. For another four years, from 1870 to 1874, May was jailed in

Waldheim, Saxony Waldheim () is a town in Mittelsachsen district, in Saxony, Germany. Geography It is situated in the valley of the river Zschopau (river), Zschopau, southwest of Döbeln, and north of Chemnitz. The municipal area comprises Waldheim proper, th ...

. There he met a

Catholic Catechist The role of a Catholic catechist is to catechize (teach; variant spelling is catechise) the Catholic theology, faith of the Catholic Church by both word and example. The ''Directory for Catechesis'' states that faith must be "known, celebrated, li ...

, Johannes Kochta, who assisted May.

Career

After his release in May 1874, May returned to his parents' home in Ernstthal and began to write. In November 1874, ''Die Rose von Ernstthal'' ("The Rose from Ernstthal") was published.Sudhoff D. and Steinmetz H. ''Karl-May-Chronik'' Karl-May-Verlag, 2006. . May then became an editor in the publishing house of Heinrich Gotthold Münchmeyer in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. May managed entertainment papers such as ''Schacht und Hütte'' ("Mine and Mill") and continued to publish his own works such as ''Geographische Predigten'' ("Collected Travel Stories") (1876). May resigned in 1876 and was employed by

Bruno Radelli Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters * Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne ...

of Dresden. In 1878, May became a

freelance writer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

. Once again, May was insolvent. In 1882, May returned to the employ of Münchmeyer and began the first of five large colportage novels. One of these was ''Das Waldröschen'' (1882–1884). From 1879, May was also published in ''Deutscher Hausschatz'' ("German House Treasure"), a Catholic weekly journal from the press of Friedrich Pustet in

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

. In 1880, May began the ''Orient Cycle'', which ran, with interruption, until 1888. May was also published in the teenage boys' journal ''Der Gute Kamerad'' ("The Good Comrade") of Wilhelm Spemann,

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

. In 1887, it published ''Der Sohn des Bärenjägers'' ("Son of the Bear Hunter"). In 1891 ''Der Schatz im Silbersee'' ("The Treasure of Silver Lake") was published. May published in other journals using pseudonyms. In all, he published over one hundred articles. In October 1888, May moved to Kötzschenbroda (a part of

Radebeul Radebeul (; ) is a town (''große Kreisstadt'') in the Elbe valley in the district of Meißen (district), Meißen in Saxony, Germany, a suburb of Dresden. It is well known for its viticulture, a Karl May Museum, museum dedicated to writer Karl ...

) and in 1891 to ''Villa Agnes'' in Oberlößnitz. In 1891, Friedrich Ernst Fehsenfeld offered to print the ''Deutscher Hausschatz'' "Son of the Bear Hunter" stories as books. In 1892, the publication of ''Carl May's Gesammelte Reiseromane'' (''Collected Travel Accounts'' or ''Karl May's Gesammelte Reiseerzählungen'') brought financial security and recognition. May became deeply absorbed in the stories he wrote and the lives of his characters. Readers wrote to May, addressing him as the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

s of his books. May conducted talking tours in Germany and Austria and allowed autographed cards to be printed and photos in costume to be taken. In December 1895, May moved to the Villa Shatterhand in Alt-Radebeul, which he purchased from the Ziller brothers.

Later career

In 1899, May traveled to Egypt then

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

with his servant, Sejd Hassan. In 1900, he was joined by Klara and Richard Plöhn. The group returned to Radebeul in July 1900. May demonstrated some emotional instability during his travels.Bartsch E. and Wollschläger H. ''Karl May's Orientreise 1899–1900'' in ''In fernen Zonen: Karl Mays Weltreisen.'' (''In remote areas : Karl May's world travel'') Karl-May-Verlag, 1999, Original from Indiana University, digitized 20 Jan 2011. . Hermann Cardauns and Rudolf Lebius criticised May for his self-promotion with the Old Shatterhand legend. He was also reproached for his writing for the Catholic ''Deutscher Hausschatz'' and several Marian calendars. There were also charges of unauthorised book publications and the use of an illegal doctoral degree. In 1902, May did receive a

Doctor honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

from the Universitas Germana-Americana in Chicago for ''Im Reiche des Silbernen Löwen'' ("In the Realm of the Silver Lion.")Heermann C. ''Winnetous Blutsbruder: Karl-May-Biografie.'' Zweite, überarbeitete und ergänzte Auflage. Karl-May-Verlag, Bamberg / Radebeul 2012. . pp. 425−427. In 1908, Karl and Klara May spent six weeks in North America. They traveled through

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, the

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

and visited friends in

Lawrence, Massachusetts Lawrence is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Merrimack River. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 89,143. Surrounding communities include Methuen, Massachusetts, Methuen ...

. May was inspired to write ''Winnetou IV''. On his return, May began work on complex

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughou ...

texts. He considered the "question of mankind",

pacifism Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ...

and the raising of humans from evil to good.

Sascha Schneider Rudolph Karl Alexander Schneider, commonly known as Sascha Schneider (21 September 1870 – 18 August 1927), was a German painter and sculptor. Biography Schneider was born in Saint Petersburg in 1870. During his childhood, his family lived ...

provided

symbolist Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

covers for the Fehsenfeld edition. On 22 March 1912, May was invited by the Academic Society for Literature and Music in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

to present a lecture entitled ''Empor ins Reich der Edelmenschen'' ("Upward to the Realm of Noble Men"). There, he met pacifist and Nobel Laureate

Bertha von Suttner Baroness Bertha Sophie Felicitas von Suttner (; ; 9 June 184321 June 1914) was an Bohemian nobility, Austro-Bohemian noblewoman, Pacifism, pacifist and novelist. In 1905, she became the second female Nobel laureate (after Marie Curie in 1903), th ...

Death

May died in his own Villa Shatterhand on 30 March 1912. According to the register of deaths, the cause was

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest CA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly Circulatory system, circulate around the body and the blood flow to the ...

acute bronchitis Acute bronchitis, also known as a chest cold, is short-term bronchitis – inflammation of the bronchus, bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) of the lungs. The most common symptom is a cough. Other symptoms include sputum, coughing up mucus, ...

and

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

, but according to Ralf Harder from the Karl-May-Stiftung, May's death certificate does not include the cause of death. Scientists examining the remains of May in 2014 found excessive quantities of

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

and other

heavy metals upright=1.2, Crystals of lead.html" ;"title="osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead Heavy metals is a controversial and ambiguous term for metallic elements with relatively h ...

, and concluded that his death was probably due to a long-time exposure to lead in water as well as tobacco. May was buried in Radebeul East. His tomb was inspired by the

Temple of Athena Nike The Temple of Athena Nike (Greek: Ναός Αθηνάς Νίκης, ''Naós Athinás Níkis'') is a temple on the Acropolis of Athens, dedicated to the goddesses Athena and Nike. Built around 420 BC, the temple is the earliest fully Ionic temp ...

Personal life

In 1880, he married Emma Pollmer. They divorced in 1903 and had no children. May subsequently married Klara Plöhn, who was widowed.

Works

May used many pseudonyms, including "Capitan Ramon Diaz de la Escosura", "D. Jam", "Emma Pollmer", "Ernst von Linden", "Hobble-Frank", "Karl Hohenthal", "M. Gisela", "P. van der Löwen", "Prinz Muhamel Lautréamont" and "Richard Plöhn". Most pseudonymously or anonymously published works have been identified. For the novels set in America, May created the characters of

Winnetou Winnetou is a fictional Native American hero of several novels written in German by Karl May (1842–1912), one of the best-selling German writers of all time with about 200 million copies worldwide, including the ''Winnetou'' trilogy. The ...

, the wise

chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...

of the

Apaches The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

, and

Old Shatterhand Old Shatterhand is a fictional character in Western fiction, Western novels by Germany, German writer Karl May (1842–1912). He is the German friend and blood brother of Winnetou, the fictional chief of the Mescalero tribe of the Apache. He i ...

, Winnetou's white

blood brother Blood brother can refer to two or more people not related by birth who have sworn loyalty to each other. This is in modern times usually done in a ceremony, known as a blood oath, where each person makes a small cut, usually on a finger, han ...

. Another series of novels were set in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. In these, the narrator-protagonist, Kara Ben Nemsi, travels with his local guide and servant Hadschi Halef Omar through the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

desert to the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

, experiencing many exciting adventures. May's writing developed from the anonymous first-person observer-narrator (for example ''Der Gitano'', 1875) to a narrator with heroic skills and equipment, to a fully formed first-person narrator-hero. With few exceptions, May had not visited the places he described, but he compensated successfully for his lack of direct experience through a combination of creativity, imagination, and documentary sources including maps, travel accounts and guidebooks, as well as anthropological and linguistic studies. The work of writers such as

James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonial and indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...

Gabriel Ferry Gabriel Ferry is the pen name of two French writers, father and son. Gabriel Ferry the Elder The elder, Eugène Louis Gabriel Ferry de Bellemare (November 1809 Grenoble - 3 January 1852), wrote adventure novels. He spent 10 years in Mexico. He ...

Friedrich Gerstäcker Friedrich Gerstäcker (May 10, 1816 in Hamburg – May 31, 1872 in Braunschweig) was a German traveler, novelist, and adventurer. Biography He was the son of Friedrich Gerstäcker (1790–1825), a celebrated opera singer. After being apprenti ...

Balduin Möllhausen Heinrich Balduin Möllhausen (27 January 1825—28 May 1905) was a German writer, traveler and artist who visited the United States and participated in three separate expeditions exploring the American frontier. After his travel he became a popular ...

and

Mayne Reid Thomas Mayne Reid (4 April 1818 – 22 October 1883) was an Irish British novelist who fought in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). His many works on American life describe colonial policy in the American colonies, the horrors of slave ...

served as his models. Non-

dogma Dogma, in its broadest sense, is any belief held definitively and without the possibility of reform. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, or Islam ...

tic Christian values play an important role in May's works. Some of the characters are described as being of German, particularly

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

, origins. In a letter to a young Jew who intended to become a Christian after reading May's books, May advised him first to understand his own religion, which he described as holy and exalted, until he was experienced enough to choose. In his later works (after 1900) May left the adventure fiction genre to write

symbol A symbol is a mark, Sign (semiotics), sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, physical object, object, or wikt:relationship, relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by cr ...

ic novels with religious and pacifistic content. The change is best shown in ''Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen'', where the first two parts are adventurous and the last two parts belong to the mature work.

Early work

In his early work, May wrote in a variety of genres until he showed his proficiency in travel stories.Lowsky M. ''Karl May'' Metzler, Stuttgart, 1987, vol 231 p38. During his time as an editor, he published many of these works within the periodicals for which he was responsible. * ''Das Buch der Liebe'' (1876, educational work) * ''Geographische Predigten'' (1876, educational work) * ''Der beiden Quitzows letzte Fahrten'' (1877, unfinished) * ''Auf hoher See gefangen'' (''Auf der See gefangen'', parts later revised for ''Old Surehand II'') (1878) * ''Scepter und Hammer'' (1880) * ''Im fernen Westen'' (reworked in ''Old Firehand'' (1875) and later in ''Winnetou II'')(1879) * ''Der Waldläufer'' (reworked in "Le Coureur de Bois", a novel by

) * ''Die Juweleninsel'' (1882) The shorter stories of the early work can be grouped as follows, although in some works genres overlap. Some of the shorter stories were later published in anthologies, for example, ''Der Karawanenwürger und andere Erzählungen'' (1894), ''Humoresken und Erzählungen'' (1902) and ''Erzgebirgische Dorfgeschichten'' (1903). *

Adventure fiction Adventure fiction is a type of fiction that usually presents danger, or gives the reader a sense of excitement. Some adventure fiction also satisfies the literary definition of Romance (prose fiction)#Definition, romance fiction. History In t ...

and early travel stories (for example, ''Inn-nu-woh, der Indianerhäuptling'', 1875) *

Crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

(for example, ''Wanda'', 1875) * Historical fiction (for example, ''Robert Surcouf'', 1882) * Humorous stories (for example, ''Die Fastnachtsnarren'', 1875) * Series about "the Old Dessauer",

Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (3 July 1676 – 7 April 1747) was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the Principality of Anhalt-Dessau from 1693 to 1747. He was also a ''Generalfeldmarschall'' in the Prussian Army. Nicknam ...

(for example, ''Pandur und Grenadier'', 1883) * Stories of villages in the

Ore Mountains The Ore Mountains (, or ; ) lie along the Czech–German border, separating the historical regions of Bohemia in the Czech Republic and Saxony in Germany. The highest peaks are the Klínovec in the Czech Republic (German: ''Keilberg'') at ab ...

(for example, ''Die Rose von Ernstthal'', 1874 or 1875) * Natural history works (for example, ''Schätze und Schatzgräber'', 1875) * Letters and poems (for example, ''Meine einstige Grabinschrift'', 1872).

Colportage novels

May wrote five large (many thousands of pages)

colportage Colportage is the distribution of publications, books, and religious tracts by carriers called "colporteurs" or "colporters". The term does not necessarily refer to religious book peddling. Etymology From French , where the term is an altera ...

novels, which he published either anonymously or under pseudonyms between 1882 and 1888. * ''Das Waldröschen'' (1882–1884, a part was later revised for ''Old Surehand II'') * ''Die Liebe des Ulanen'' (1883–1885) * ''Der verlorne Sohn oder Der Fürst des Elends'' (1884–1886) * ''Deutsche Herzen'' (''Deutsche Helden'') (1885–1888) * ''Der Weg zum Glück'' (1886–1888) From 1900 to 1906, Münchmeyer's successor Adalbert Fischer published the first book editions. These were revised by third hand and published under May's real name instead of pseudonyms. This edition was not authorized by May and he tried to stop its publication.

Travel stories

Thirty-three volumes of ''Carl May's Gesammelte Reiseromane'', (''Karl May's Gesammelte Reiseerzählungen'') were published from 1892 to 1910 by Friedrich Ernst Fehsenfeld. Most had been previously published in ''Deutscher Hausschatz'', but some were new. The best known titles are the ''Orient Cycle'' (volumes 1–6) and the ''

-Trilogy'' (volumes 7–9). Beyond these shorter cycles, the works are troubled by chronological inconsistencies arising when original articles were revised for book editions. # ''Durch Wüste und Harem'' (1892, since 1895 titled ''Durch die Wüste'') (translated as "In the Desert") # ''Durchs wilde Kurdistan'' (1892) # ''Von Bagdad nach Stambul'' (1892) # ''In den Schluchten des Balkan'' (1892) # ''Durch das Land der Skipetaren'' (1892) # ''Der Schut'' (1892) # ''Winnetou I'' (1893, also titled ''Winnetou der Rote Gentleman I'') # ''Winnetou II'' (1893, also titled ''Winnetou der Rote Gentleman II'') # ''Winnetou III'' (1893, also titled ''Winnetou der Rote Gentleman III'') * ''Orangen und Datteln'' (1893, an anthology) * ''Am Stillen Ocean'' (1894, an anthology) * ''Am Rio de la Plata'' (1894) * ''In den Cordilleren'' (1894) * ''Old Surehand I'' (1894) * ''Old Surehand II'' (1895) * ''Im Lande des Mahdi I'' (1896) * ''Im Lande des Mahdi II'' (1896) * ''Im Lande des Mahdi III'' (1896) * ''Old Surehand III'' (1897) * ''Satan und Ischariot I'' (1896) * ''Satan und Ischariot II'' (1897) * ''Satan und Ischariot III'' (1897) * ''Auf fremden Pfaden'' (1897, an anthology) * ''Weihnacht!'' (1897) * ''Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen I'' (1898) * ''Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen II'' (1898) * ''Am Jenseits'' (1899) May's ''oeuvre'' includes some shorter travel stories that were not published within this series (for example, ''Eine Befreiung'' in ''Die Rose von Kaïrwan'', 1894). After the founding of the Karl May Press in 1913, works in ''Gesammelte Werke'' were revised (sometimes extensively) and many received new titles. Texts (other than those from Fehsenfeld Press) were also added to the new series.

Stories for young readers

Karl May Der blaurote Methusalem Herrfurth 001

These stories were written from 1887 to 1897 for the magazine ''Der Gute Kamerad''. Most of the stories are set in the

Wild West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

, but Old Shatterhand is just a figure and not the first-person narrator as he is in the travel stories. The best-known volume is ''Der Schatz im Silbersee''. In the broadest sense, the early works ''Im fernen Westen'' and ''Der Waldläufer'' belong in this category. * ''Der Sohn des Bärenjägers'' (1887, since 1890 within ''Die Helden des Westens'') * ''Der Geist des Llano estakata'' (1888, since 1890 correctly titled as ''Der Geist des Llano estakado'' within ''Die Helden des Westens'') * ''Kong-Kheou, das Ehrenwort'' (1888/89, since 1892 titled ''Der blaurote Methusalem'') * ''Die Sklavenkarawane'' (1890) * ''Der Schatz im Silbersee'' (1891) * ''Das Vermächtnis des Inka'' (1892) * ''Der Oelprinz'' (1894, since 1905 titled as ''Der Ölprinz'') * ''Der schwarze Mustang'' (1897) * Replies to letters from readers in ''Der Gute Kamerad''.

Mature work

May's mature work dates to 1900, after his travels to the East.Schmid E. A. ''Gestalt und Idee.'' pp. 367–420 in ''Karl May.'' ICH 39th Edition Verlag, Bamberg, 1995 Many of them were published by Fehsenfeld. * ''Himmelsgedanken'' (1900, poem collection) * ''Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen III'' (1902) * ''Erzgebirgische Dorfgeschichten'' (1903, anthology) * ''Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen IV'' (1903) * ''Und Friede auf Erden!'' (1904) * ''Babel und Bibel'' (1906, drama) * ''Ardistan und Dschinnistan I'' (1909) * ''Ardistan und Dschinnistan II'' (1909) * ''Winnetou IV'' (1910) * ''Mein Leben und Streben'' (1910, autobiography) * ''Schamah'' (1907) and other short stories. * ''Briefe über Kunst'' (1907) and other articles. * ''"Karl May als Erzieher" und "Die Wahrheit über Karl May" oder Die Gegner Karl Mays in ihrem eigenen Lichte'' (1902) and other legal proceedings.

Other works

May was a member of the "Lyra" choir in about 1864 and composed musical works, including a version of ''

Ave Maria The Hail Mary or Ave Maria (from its first words in Latin), also known as the Angelic or Angelical Salutation, is a traditional Catholic prayer addressing Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical pa ...

'' and ''Vergiss mich nicht'' within ''Ernste Klänge'', 1899.Kühne H. and Lorenz C. F. ''Karl May und die Musik''. Verlag, Bamberg and Radebeul, 1999. During his last years, May lectured on his

philosophical Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

ideas. * ''Drei Menschheitsfragen: Wer sind wir? Woher kommen wir? Wohin gehen wir?'' (

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

, 1908) * ''Sitara, das Land der Menschheitsseele'' (

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

, 1909) * ''Empor ins Reich der Edelmenschen'' (

, 1912) Furthermore, there are posthumous publications of fragments of stories and dramas, lyrics, musical compositions, letters and the library catalog.

Reception

Number of copies and translations

According to an encyclopedia dedicated to May, he is the "most read writer of the German tongue". The total number of copies published is about 200 million, half of them in German.Petzel M. and Wehnert J. ''Das neue Lexikon rund um Karl May.'' Lexikon Imprint Verlag, Berlin 2002. May's first translated work is considered to have been the first half of the ''Orient Cycle'' into a French

daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

in 1881.von Thüna U. ''Übersetzungen'' in Ueding G.''Karl-May-Handbuch'' Königshausen & Neumann, 2001 pp. 519–522. . Hans Dieter Steinmet (of d

Karl May Museum The Karl May Museum is a museum in Radebeul, Germany named after the German author Karl May, containing artifacts from May's life as well as a worldwide ethnographic and art collections with emphasis on the life on the American frontier and Native ...

) said that

Croat The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

ian writer Nikola Tordinac published a translation of May's novel ''Tree carde monte'' in the magazine Sriemski Hrvat in 1880.Glas Slavonije otkrio je prvi, Tordinčev prijevod Karla Maya u svijetu!
''

Glas Slavonije ''Glas Slavonije'' () is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian ...

'', 20 December 2016. Access date 8 June 2020. Tordinac's translation became a part of the permanent exhibition of the Karl May Museum in 2017. Since that time, May's work has been translated into more than 30 languages, including

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and

Esperanto Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...

. In the 1960s,

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

indicated that May was the most frequently translated German writer. His most popular translations are in Bulgarian,

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

, Hungarian and Dutch. Seabury Press, New York, began publishing English translations by Michael Shaw in 1977.

Influence

May had a substantial influence on a number of well-known German-speaking people and on the German population itself."''Ich bin ein Cowboy''"
''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'', 24 May 2001. The popularity of his writing, and his (generally German) protagonists, are seen as having filled a lack in the German psyche, which had few popular heroes until the 19th century. His readers longed to escape from an industrialised, capitalist society, an escape which May offered. May "helped shape the collective German dream of feats far beyond middle-class bounds."''Tales Of The Grand Teutons: Karl May Among The Indians.''
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', 4 January 1987 and contributed to the

popular image of Native Americans in German-speaking countries Since the 18th century, Native Americans have been a topic of fascination in German culture, inspiring literature, art, film and historical reenactment, as well as influencing German ideas and attitudes towards environmentalism. Hartmut Lutz c ...

, which has been described by many as racist and harmful. The name ''Winnetou'' has an entry in the German dictionary,

Duden The Duden () is a dictionary of the Standard High German language, first published by Konrad Duden in 1880, and later by Bibliographisches Institut GmbH, which was merged into Cornelsen Verlag in 2022. The Duden is updated regularly with ...

. The wider influence on the populace also surprised US occupation troops after World War II, who realised that thanks to May, "Cowboys and Indians" were familiar concepts to local children (though fantastic and removed from reality). Many well-known German-speaking people used May's heroes as models in their childhood.

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

enjoyed May's books and said, "My whole adolescence stood under his sign. Indeed, even today, he has been dear to me in many a desperate hour..."

Influence on the Nazis

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

was an admirer of May's writings. He noted that the novels "overwhelmed" him as a boy, going as far as to ensure "a noticeable decline" in his school grades. According to an anonymous friend, Hitler attended the lecture given by May in Vienna in March 1912 and was enthusiastic about the event. The lecture was an appeal for peace, also heard by

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

laureate

. May died suddenly only ten days after the lecture, leaving the young Hitler deeply upset.

Claus Roxin Claus Roxin (15 May 1931 – 18 February 2025) was a German jurist. He was one of the most influential dogmatists of German penal law and gained national and international reputation in this field. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by 28 univ ...

noted that he doubts the anonymous description, because Hitler had said much about May, but not that he had seen him. Hitler defended May against critics in the men's hostel where he lived in Vienna, as the evidence of May's earlier time in jail had come to light; although it was true, Hitler confessed that May had never visited the sites of his American adventure stories. This made him a greater writer in Hitler's view since it showed the author's powers of imagination. Hitler later recommended the books to his generals and had special editions distributed to soldiers at the front, praising Winnetou as an example of "tactical finesse and circumspection", though some note that the latter claims of using the books as military guidance are not substantiated. However, as told by

Albert Speer Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of W ...

, "when faced by seemingly hopeless situations, he itlerwould still reach for these stories," because "they gave him courage like works of philosophy for others or the Bible for elderly people."Grafton A
''Mein Buch''
''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

'', December 2008. Hitler's admiration for May led the German writer

Klaus Mann Klaus Heinrich Thomas Mann (18 November 1906 – 21 May 1949) was a German writer and dissident. He was the son of Thomas Mann, a nephew of Heinrich Mann and brother of Erika Mann (with whom he maintained a lifelong close relationship) and Go ...

to accuse May of having been a form of "mentor" for Hitler. In his admiration, Hitler ignored May's Christian and humanitarian approach and views completely, not mentioning his relatively sympathetic description of Jews and other persons of non-Northern European ancestry. The

National Socialist Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...

s in particular tried to use May's popularity and his work for their purposes.

''Indianertümelei''

The popularity of May's books sparked a fascination in German popular culture with the

Indigenous peoples of North America In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...

that continues to this day. In 1985, the German scholar Hartmut Lutz invented the term ''Deutsche Indianertümelei'' ("German Indian Enthusiasm") for the phenomenon.Watchman, Renne, Lutz, Hartmut & Strzelczyk, Florence ''Indianthusiasm'', Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier Press, 2020 p. 12 The phrase ''Indianertümelei'' is a reference to the German term ("German Enthusiasm") which mockingly describes the phenomenon of celebrating in an excessively nationalistic and romanticized manner ''Deutschtum'' ("Germanness"). In the English-speaking world, the phenomenon of the German obsession with the First Nations of North America is known as "Indianthusiasm". In a 1999 speech delivered in the United States in English, Lutz declared: As part of the phenomenon of ''Indianertümelei'' a number of Western and Indian theme parks operate in Germany, the most popular of which are the Pullman City theme park outside of Munich and El Dorado theme park outside of Berlin.Watchman, Renne, Lutz, Hartmut & Strzelczyk, Florence ''Indianthusiasm'', Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier Press, 2020 p. 16 May's books also inspired hobbyist clubs, where Germans pretend to be cowboys or Indians, the first of which was the Cowboy Club founded in Munich in 1913. In 2019, it was estimated that between 40,000 and 100,000 Germans are involved in ''Indianer'' hobbyist clubs at any given moment. Interviewed in 2007, one member of an ''Indianer'' club stated: "Our camp is always in summer, in July for two weeks. During this time, we live in tipis, we wear only Indian clothes. We don't use technology and we try to follow Indian traditions. We have those retending to beLakota, Oglala, Blackfeet, Blood, Siksika, Pawneee... and we go on the warpath against each other day and night, anytime at all. In two weeks, every tribe can fight each other. We don't know when somebody will attack or when they will come to steal our horses. And the battles are always exciting, too. I really enjoy them". Regarding the role of Karl May's works, Karl May movies and Karl May stage adaptations for the German image of Native Americans, Rivka Galchen notes in her essay on "Wild West Germany" in 2012:

Influence on other authors

The German writer

Carl Zuckmayer Carl Zuckmayer (27 December 1896 – 18 January 1977) was a German writer and playwright. His older brother was the pedagogue, composer, conductor, and pianist Eduard Zuckmayer. His first two dramas were failures. In 1929, he wrote the script ...

was intrigued by May's Apache chief and named his daughter ''Maria Winnetou''.

Max von der Grün Max von der Grün (; 25 May 1926 – 7 April 2005) was a Germans, German novelist. Max von der Grün was born in Sankt Georgen (Bayreuth) and grew up in Mitterteich. After a clerical apprenticeship, he became a Fallschirmjäger, paratrooper durin ...

said he read May as a young boy. When asked whether reading May's books had given him anything, he answered, "No. It took something away from me. The fear of bulky books, that is." Heinz Werner Höber, the twofold Glauser prize winner, was a follower of May. He said, "When I was about 12 years old I wrote my first novel on Native Americans which was, of course, from the beginning to the end completely stolen from Karl May." He had pleaded with friends to get him to Radebeul "because Radebeul meant Karl May". There, he was deeply impressed by the museum and said, "My great fellow countryman from Hohenstein-Ernstthal and his immortal heroes have never left me ever since."

Honors

Asteroids An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

348 May and 15728 Karlmay are named in May's honour.

Adaptations

May's poem ''Ave Maria'' (1896) was set to music in at least 19 versions. Other poems, especially from the collection ''Himmelsgedanken'' were also set to music. Carl Ball wrote ''

Harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

Clangs'' for the drama ''Babel und Bibel'' for May. The Swiss composer

Othmar Schoeck Othmar Schoeck (1 September 1886 – 8 March 1957) was a Swiss List of Romantic-era composers, Romantic classical composer, opera composer, musician, and Conductor (music), conductor. He was known mainly for his considerable output of lied, art ...

adapted ''Der Schatz im Silbersee'' for opera. May's concepts, such as Winnetou's death, inspired musical works.Kühne H. ''Vertonungen'' in Ueding's ''Karl-May-Handbuch'' pp 532–535. The first stage adaptation of May's work was ''Winnetou'' (1919) by Hermann Dimmler. Dimmler and

Ludwig Körner Ludwig may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ludwig (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Ludwig (surname), including a list of people * Ludwig von Koopa, a character in Mario (the game) Arts and entertain ...

made revised editions of the play. Different novel revisions have been played on outdoor stages since the 1940s. The Karl May Festival in Bad Segeberg has been held every summer since 1952 and in Lennestadt-Elspe since 1958. At some of these festivals,

Pierre Brice Pierre-Louis Le Bris (6 February 1929 – 6 June 2015), known as Pierre Brice, was a French actor, best known as portraying fictional Apache chief Winnetou in German films based on Karl May novels. Life and films Brice was born in Brest, ...

has played Winnetou. Another festival has been conducted on a rock stage in

Rathen Rathen is a village in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, in Saxony, Germany, about southeast of Dresden. The village occupies both banks of the river Elbe and, as of 2020, has 339 inhabitants. Rathen is a popular tourist destination, the main sigh ...

, in

Saxon Switzerland Saxon Switzerland (, ) is a hilly climbing area and national park in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. It is located around the Elbe valley south-east of Dresden in Saxony, Germany, adjoining Bohemian Switzerland in the Czech Republic. Toge ...

near Radebeul in 1940 and then since 1984.Hatzig H. ''Dramatisierungen'' in Ueding's ''Karl-May-Handbuch'', pp 523–526. In 1920, May's friend

Marie Luise Droop Marie Luise Droop (15 January 1890 – 22 August 1959) was a German writer, director and producer. Biography Marie Martha Luise Fritsch was born on 15 January 1890 in Stettin. Her father was Karl Georg Fritsch, manager of a cement factory, her m ...

, her husband Adolf Droop and the Karl May Press founded Ustad-Film, a

production company A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television show, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video ...

. Ustad-Film made three

silent movies A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

(''

Auf den Trümmern des Paradieses ''On the Brink of Paradise'' (/ transl: ''On the Ruins of Paradise'') is a 1920 German 90-minute film directed by Josef Stein and featuring Carl de Vogt in the title role of Kara Ben Nemsi. Béla Lugosi was thought to have appeared in a support ...

'', '' Die Todeskarawane'' and ''

Die Teufelsanbeter ''The Devil Worshippers'' () is a six-chapter 1921 silent German film written by Marie Luise Droop, directed by Muhsin Ertuğrul and featuring Carl de Vogt in the title-role of Kara Ben Nemsi. De Vogt's career as an actor stretched into the ...

'') after the ''Orientcycle''. The company became bankrupt in 1921 and the films are lost. In 1936 a first

sound movie A sound film is a Film, motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, bu ...

Durch die Wüste The following is a glossary of terms used in card games. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon slang terms. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to bridge, hearts, poker or rummy), ...

'' was shown. ' (1958) and its sequel ' (1959) were the first colour movies. From 1962 to 1968, a series of May movies were made.Hatzig H. ''Verfilmungen'' in Ueding's ''Karl-May-Handbuch'' pp. 527–531. While most of the seventeen movies of this series were

Wild West movie The Western is a film genre defined by the American Film Institute as films which are "set in the American West that mbodythe spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier." Generally set in the American frontier between the Californi ...

s (beginning with ''Der Schatz im Silbersee''), three were based on the ''Orientcycle'' and two on ''Das Waldröschen''. Most of these movies were made separately by the two competitors

Horst Wendlandt Horst Otto Gregor Wendlandt (15 March 1922 – 30 August 2002) was a German film producer. He produced more than 100 films between 1956 and 2002. In the 1960s Horst Wendlandt's production company Rialto Film produced films based on Edgar W ...

and

Artur Brauner Artur "Atze" Brauner (born Abraham Brauner; 1 August 1918 – 7 July 2019) was a German film producer and entrepreneur of Polish origin. He produced more than 300 films from 1946. Life and career He was born the oldest son of a Jewish family ...

. Several actors were employed, including

Lex Barker Alexander Crichlow Barker Jr. (May 8, 1919 – May 11, 1973), known as Lex Barker, was an American film and television actor. He was known for playing Tarzan for RKO Pictures between 1949 and 1953 and portraying leading characters from Karl May' ...

(Old Shatterhand, Kara Ben Nemsi, Karl Sternau),

(Winnetou),

Gojko Mitić Gojko Mitić ( sr-Cyrl, Гојко Митић; born June 13, 1940) is a Serbian-German actor and director. He gained great popularity in East Germany for his portrayal of historical and fictional Native American characters in numerous DEFA Indi ...

(Winnetou),

Stewart Granger Stewart Granger (born James Lablache Stewart; 6 May 1913 – 16 August 1993) was a British film actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to the early 1960s, rising to fame thr ...

(Old Surehand),

Milan Srdoč Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nearly 1.4 million, while i ...

(Old Wabble) and

Ralf Wolter Ralf Wolter (26 November 1926 – 14 October 2022) was a German stage and screen actor. Wolter appeared in nearly 220 films and television series in his over 60 years as a character actor. Life and career Wolter began his long career on the B ...

(Sam Hawkens, Hadschi Halef Omar, André Hasenpfeffer). The

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

Martin Böttcher Martin Böttcher (17 June 1927 – 20 April 2019) was a German composer, arrangement, arranger and conducting, conductor. The beginning Böttcher (on foreign records and articles often written "Bottcher" or "Boettcher", the latter being the corre ...

and the landscape of

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

are associated with the movies. Other movies such as ''Die Spur führt zum Silbersee'' (1990) and TV productions such as ''Das Buschgespenst'' (1986) and the television series ''

Kara Ben Nemsi Effendi ''Kara Ben Nemsi Effendi'' is a German television series broadcast from 1973 through 1975 in 26 parts and two seasons. It featured an adventurer probably inspired by British explorers Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890) and T. E. Lawrence. The scr ...

'' (1973) were produced. The productions vary from the original written works. In 2016, German RTL Television premiered three-part television movies based on Winnetou, directed by

Philipp Stölzl Philipp Stölzl (born 1967 in Munich) is a German director. He began to direct music videos in the mid-1990s and directed his first feature film in 2002. Life and career Philipp Stölzl was trained as a set and costume designer at the Münchner ...

. In the part "Winnetou and Old Shatterhand",

, one of the actors who played Winnetou in the '60s movies, portrayed Intschu Tschuna, Winnetou's father. May's works (about 300) have been adapted for

s, particularly in the 1960s.Karl May audio drama database
/ref> The first, ''Der Schatz im Silbersee'', was written by Günther Bibo in 1929. There are also Czech and Danish versions of the audio dramas. In 1988, ''Der Schatz im Silbersee'' was read by

Gert Westphal Curt Gerhard Westphal, stage name Gert Westphal, (5 October 1920 – 10 November 2002) was a German-Swiss actor, audiobook narrator, recitator and director, one of the best-known audiobook narrators and speakers in German, described as "König der ...

and published as an

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

. ''Wann sehe ich dich wieder, du lieber, lieber Winnetou?'' (1995) is a compendium of Karl May texts read by Hermann Wiedenroth. In the 1950s

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

comic book artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literary ...

Walter Neugebauer finished his 1930s comic book adaptation of Karl May's stories.

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

n artist Aleksandar Hecl also drew one. In the 1960s and 1970s, May's works were adapted for German comics including an eight-issue series based on ''Winnetou'' and a further nine-issue series titled ''Karl May'' (1963–1965). The series was drawn by Helmut Nickel and Harry Ehrt and published by Walter Lehning Verlag. Belgian comics artist

Willy Vandersteen Willebrord Jan Frans Maria "Willy" Vandersteen (15 February 1913 – 28 August 1990) was a Belgian creator of comic books. In a career spanning 50 years, he created a large studio and published more than 1,000 comic albums in over 25 series, sel ...

created a whole series of comics based on May's stories, simply titled ''Karl May'' (1962–1977). Eighty-seven issues of ''Karl May'' were published by

Standaard Uitgeverij Standaard Uitgeverij is a Belgian publisher, and the leading publisher in the Dutch language market of Flanders. History In 1919, the Standaard group was created, mainly consisting of a chain of bookshops (Standaard Boekhandel), a newspaper (''De ...

from 1962 to 1987. Comics based on May's novels were also produced in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, Denmark, France,

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, Spain and Sweden.Petzel M. ''Comics und Bildergeschichten'' in Ueding: ''Karl-May-Handbuch'' pp 539–545. May's life has been the subject of screen works, novels and a stage play, including * ''Freispruch für Old Shatterhand'' (1965, directed by Hans Heinrich) * ''

Karl May Karl Friedrich May ( , ; 25 February 1842 – 30 March 1912) was a German author. He is best known for his novels of travels and adventures, set in the American Old West, the Orient, the Middle East, Latin America, China and Germany. He als ...

'' (1974, directed by

Hans-Jürgen Syberberg Hans-Jürgen Syberberg (; born 8 December 1935) is a German film director, whose best known film is his lengthy feature ''Hitler: A Film from Germany''. Early life Born in Nossendorf, Province of Pomerania (1815–1945), Pomerania, the son of ...

) * ''Karl May'' (1992, directed by. Klaus Überall, a television series in 8 episodes) * ''Swallow, mein wackerer Mustang'' (1980) by

Erich Loest Erich Loest (; 24 February 1926 – 12 September 2013) was a German writer born in Mittweida, Saxony. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Hans Walldorf, Bernd Diksen and Waldemar Naß. Life and career He was a conscripted soldier in World War I ...

* ''Vom Wunsch, Indianer zu werden. Wie

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

Karl May traf und trotzdem nicht in Amerika landete'' (1994) by

Peter Henisch Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

* ''Old Shatterhand in Moabit'' (1994) by

Walter Püschel Walter may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walter (name), including a list of people and fictional and mythical characters with the given name or surname * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–19 ...

* ''Karl May und der Wettermacher'' (2001) by Jürgen Heinzerling * ''Die Taschenuhr des Anderen'' by Willi Olbrich.

Copies, parodies, and sequels

May was copied or

parodied A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satirical or ironic imitation. Often its subject is an original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, etc), but a parody can also b ...

during his lifetime. Some wrote similar Wild West stories. Others, such as Franz Treller, published under May's name.Wehnert J. ''Fortsetzungen, Ergänzungen und Bearbeitungen''. in ''Karl-May-Handbuch'' pp 509–511. Novelizations of May's characters include * ''Hadschi Halef Omar'' (2010) Jörg Kastner describes the first contact of the titular character with Kara Ben Nemsi. * ''In Mekka'' (1923) Franz Kandolf, a sequel to ''Am Jenseits'' (''Karl May's Gesammelte Werke'' volume 50). * "Die Schatten des Schah-in-Schah" (2006)

Heinz Grill Heinz Grill is a German mountaineer, author, and yoga teacher. He has opened many new climbing routes in the Alps and Dolomites. In 1977 he won the Golden Carabiner award from the German Alpine Club. In 2012 he shared the Silla Ghedina prize for ...

, an alternative to ''Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen III/IV''. * ''Winnetous Testament'' Jutta Laroche and Reinhard Marheinecke, a series of eight volumes as a sequel to ''Winnetou IV''. * ''

Der Schuh des Manitu () is a 2001 German Western parody film. Directed by Michael Herbig, it is a film adaptation of the Winnetou sketches from his ProSieben television show '' Bullyparade''. With earnings of about ($70 million) and 11.7 million visitors in cine ...

'' (2001)

Michael Herbig Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...

, a parody on the Karl May films of the 1960s.

Karl May institutions

Karl May Foundation

In his will, May made his second wife, Klara, his sole heiress. He instructed that after her death all of his property and any future earnings from his work should go to a foundation. This foundation should support the education of the gifted poor including writers, journalists, and editors. One year after May's death, on 5 March 1913, Klara May established the "Karl May Foundation" ("Karl-May-Stiftung"). Contributions have been made since 1917. Klara and Karl May's estate went to the foundation. The foundation established the

to maintain the Villa Shatterhand, the estates, the collections and May's tomb.Wagner R. ''Karl-May-Stiftung (Radebeul)'' in Ueding: ''Karl-May-Handbuch'', pp. 549–551. In 1960, the Karl May Foundation received the Karl May Press.

Karl May Press

On 1 July 1913, Klara May, Friedrich Ernst Fehsenfeld (May's main publisher) and the

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

Euchar Albrecht Schmid established the "Foundation Press Fehsenfeld & Co." ("Stiftungs-Verlag Fehsenfeld & Co.") in Radebeul. In 1915, the name changed to "Karl May Press" ("Karl-May-Verlag" (KMV)). The KMV consolidated the rights to May's works from internal discord and from other publishers.Wehnert, Jürgen. ''Der Karl-May-Verlag'' in Ueding: ''Karl-May-Handbuch'' pp. 554–558. Third-hand revisions of these texts were added to the series ''Karl May's Gesammelte Reiseerzählungen'', which was renamed to ''Karl May's Gesammelte Werke (und Briefe)''. The existing 33 volumes of the original series were also revised, some extensively. By 1945 there were 65 volumes. The press is exclusive to May's work and subsidiary literature. Besides the ''Gesammelte Werke'' (the classical "green volumes"), which have 91 volumes today, the press has a huge reprint programme. The Karl May Press aims to rehabilitate May from literary criticism and to support the Karl May Foundation. In 1921, Fehsenfeld left and in 1960, the foundation fell to Klara May's estate, and thus the Press is owned by the Schmid family. In 1959, due to censorship in the

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and

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, the Press moved to

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia district in Bavaria, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main (river), Main. Bamberg had 79,000 inhabitants in ...

(Germany). In 1963, when copyright ended, the Press began commercialising May's works. After

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

, in 1996, the Press took a second office in Radebeul. The name "Karl May" is a

registered trade mark Registered may refer to: * Registered mail, letters, packets or other postal documents considered valuable and in need of a chain of custody * Registered trademark symbol, symbol ® that provides notice that the preceding is a trademark or service ...

of the "Karl May Verwaltungs- und Vertriebs-GmbH", which belongs to the Karl May Press.

Museums

Radebeul

The

is in the Villa Shatterhand in Radebeul and contains artifacts from May's life as well as from life on the

American frontier The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the Geography of the United States, geography, History of the United States, history, Folklore of the United States, folklore, and Cultur ...

and Native American life of that era. It was founded in 1928 by May's widow and an eccentric Austrian named Ernst Tobis. When the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

took over Germany, they appropriated the museum and the image of May, and were especially focused on

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

s that appeared in some of the Native American artwork. Hitler Youth were encouraged to visit the museum and hear stories from Tobis. After World War II, the original museum remained in

and a replica was built in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. From 1956 to 1984, the museum in Radebeul was called the "Indianer Museum", because May's books were suppressed by the East German government; its original name was restored in 1986. Around 2010, controversy arose over scalps, some of them from Native Americans, that were in the museum's collection.

Hohenstein-Ernstthal

The "Karl May House" ("Karl-May-Haus") is the three-centuries-old weaver house where May was born. Since 12 March 1985, it has been a memorial and museum. It shows an original weaving room and non-German book editions. The garden has been arranged according to May's description in his memoirs. Opposite the house is the International Karl May Heritage Center ("Karl-May-Begegnungsstätte"), which is used for events and special exhibitions. In

Hohenstein-Ernstthal Hohenstein-Ernstthal () is a town in the Zwickau rural district, Saxony, Germany. The towns of Hohenstein and Ernstthal were united in 1898, and the town is either known by its hyphenated form, or simply called Hohenstein. The town grew in the 15 ...

, called "Karl May Home Town" since 1992, every May-related place has a

commemorative plaque A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, bearing text or an image in relief, or both, ...

. These places are connected by a "Karl May Path" ("Karl-May-Wanderweg"). Outside the city lies the "Karl May Cave" ("Karl-May-Höhle"), where May found shelter during his criminal times.Neubert A. ''Karl-May-Haus (Hohenstein-Ernstthal)'' in ''Karl-May-Handbuch'' pp. 546–547.

Societies

In the 1890s, there were Karl May clubs. Today, various entities focus on research about the author.Heinemann E. ''Organe und Perspektiven der Karl-May-Forschung''. In: Ueding: ''Karl-May-Handbuch'', pp 559–564. These organisations exist in German-speaking regions, the Netherlands, Australia and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. While such societies are responsible for the release of most May-related periodicals, for example, ''Der Beobachter an der Elbe'', ''Karl-May-Haus Information'', ''Wiener Karl-May-Brief'', and ''Karl May in Leipzig'', the magazine ''Karl May & Co.'' is published independently. The "Karl May Society" (KMG), founded on 22 March 1969, is the largest organisation, with approximately 1800 members. The KMG publishes ''Jahrbuch'', ''Mitteilungen'', ''Sonderhefte der Karl-May-Gesellschaft'', and ''KMG-Nachrichten'' and reprints. Since 2008 and in cooperation with the Karl May Foundation and the Karl May Press, the KMG has published the critiqued edition of "Karl Mays Werke". This project was initiated by

Hans Wollschläger 150px, Signature, 1988 Hans Wollschläger (17 March 1935, in Minden – 19 May 2007, in Bamberg) was a German writer, translator, historian, and editor of German literature. Biography Wollschläger is widely known as the translator of '' Ulysse ...

and Hermann Wiedenroth in 1987.Wehnert J. ''Der Text''. In Ueding: ''Karl-May-Handbuch'', pp. 116–130.

References

In German

* Wiedenroth H. and Wollschlager H. ''Karl Mays Werke: historisch-kritische Ausgabe'' (''Karl May's Works, an historical critique.'') various publishers. * May K. ''Mein Leben und Streben'' (''My Life and Aspirations.'') (1910) Karl May, 2014. .

Karl May company English version website. * Michalak M. ''My Life and My Mission'' Nemsi Books 2007. and . * Plaul H. ''Illustrierte Karl-May-Bibliographie.'' Unter Mitwirkung von Gerhard Klußmeier. Saur, Munich, London, New York, Paris 1989, (in German). * Sudhoff D. and Steinmetz H. ''Karl-May-Chronik (5 volumes and companion book).'' Karl-May-Verlag, Bamberg and Radebeul 2005–2006, (in German). * Ueding G. (Ed.) ''Karl-May-Handbuch.'' Second enlarged and revised edition. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2001, (in German). * Wohlgschaft H

Bücherhaus, Bargfeld 2005, (in German). * Wollschläger H. ''Karl May. Grundriß eines gebrochenen Lebens'' (1965) Wallstein, Göttingen 2004 (in German). * Schiedt H. ''Karl May oder Die Macht der Phantasie''. Beck Verlag, München 2011 (in German)