Who was Karl May? We’ve heard of former literary heavyweights like Alexandre Dumas, Alighieri Dante, and Edgar Rice Burroughs to name a few. But when I mention Karl May, many of you shake your head. Allow me to introduce you to an exceptional writer, one who made a significant impact in his lifetime, and even more so after his death.
Karl Friedrich May was born in Feb. 1842, in Ernstthal, Germany, into a family of poor weavers. He suffered from various childhood diseases, including one that left him visually impaired. He overcame these obstacles and became a teacher in Waldenburg. Yet his brief career ended in 1863, when he was accused of theft by a colleague, something that he always denied. He was tried and jailed for the petty crime. The incarceration left him bitter and frustrated. When he was released, he discovered that his teaching certificate had been permanently revoked resulting in a downward spiral ending in a nervous breakdown. May drifted, and consorted with questionable individuals, once again finding himself before the courts. This time he was charged with fraud, spending time in jail on more than one occasion.
It was during these low periods in his life that he turned to writing and back to the faith he had abandoned. After his release in 1874, he wrote for local magazines, newspapers, and starting with short stories and novelettes progressed to travel narratives and full length novels. He achieved moderate success, but it wasn’t until he explored the stories of James Fenimore Cooper, that his true genius came to the forefront. He wrote the famous Winnetou trilogy, which became an instant success, turning him into a celebrity and gaining world wide attention. From there, May diversified writing about the Orient, even Australia.
What is fascinating is that his description of the culture and the inhabitants was based solely on information he derived from articles, newspapers and geographic periodicals. Although he wrote extensively about the “wild west”, he never set foot on the prairies, only coming as far as Buffalo, New York, in 1908.
But success rarely comes without a price. May was attacked editorially by those who scoffed at his ideals and his morally upright novels. They sought to discredit him, referring to his earlier encounters with the law, and the time he served in prison. Later, after his death (1912), one critic, Erich Wulffen, labelled him as a criminal.
He was an avid smoker, and was known for making his own cigarettes. Because of his smoking, he was forced to attend a number of health spas in Germany, which had limited effect in curbing his frequent ailments. He became more susceptible to infections and bronchitis, but kept working, never stopping long enough to properly deal with the malady.
In March of 1912, he gave one of his last lectures, and shortly thereafter succumbed to a serious lung infection, likely a relapse from an earlier bout with pneumonia. He died March 30th, in his home, with his wife Klara at his bedside.
May became even more famous after his death. Sales of his travel narratives and novels soared, hitting the 100 million mark by the 1950s, and exceeding 200 million by the turn of the century. A number of movies spawned from his books, some coming as early as the 1920s. The most famous were produced by Constantin films, from 1963 to 1968. Notable American icon, Lex Barker starred in the lead role of Old Shatterhand opposite Frenchman Pierre Brice, the noble Apache chief, Winnetou. Stewart Granger and Terrence Hill also appeared in some of the films, still in circulation today.
As a boy growing up in Europe, I became enamored with Karl May’s stories of adventure, much like a boy (North America) would have with the Hardy Boys or girls with Nancy Drew. What draws one is the thrill of adventure, even the conflict between good and evil. May certainly had his heroes, but the one that stood out for me was the creation of the venerable (fictional) Apache chief, Winnetou. Penned in the late 1890s, the Winnetou series captured the imagination of countless readers, many of them living in Europe and never having set foot in North America.
Follow me in this trek as I introduce various characters from May’s novels in the coming months. Let the adventure begin.