Jakartans paying homage to German author Karl May

Jakartans paying homage to German author Karl May

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It has been said that Adolf Hitler so admired Karl May's work
that 300,000 copies of the author's famous novel Winnetou were
printed in the middle of World War II to be delivered to German
soldiers for inspiration (Hitler's Table Talks, Martin Bormann,
1953).

Hitler was also said to lean on Karl May as proof that "it
wasn't necessary to travel in order to know the world" (Spandau:
The Secret Diaries, Albert Speer, 1976).

Although he is less known in the United States -- where only
several of his works have been translated -- Karl May was
arguably one of the most widely read German authors. The German
edition of his adventurous tales has sold more than 100 million
copies, and shaped the way millions of Europeans view the
American frontier.

Translated into more than 35 languages, May's stories of the
Wild West and the Orient have been in Indonesia since the early
1920s -- first translated into Dutch, and much later into Bahasa
Indonesia -- and were regarded as staple reading for boys of our
father's generation.

May had so masterfully woven fantastic adventures around his
well-beloved characters that Winnetou, Old Shatterhand, Kara ben
Nemsi and Hadschi Alef Omar ibn Hadschi Abu Abbas ibn Hadschi
Dawud al Gosarah became household names.

He was so famous that in the 1890s May associated himself with
Old Shatterhand, and -- since his novels were told in the first
person -- went so far as to claim that the stories were based on
his true adventures with Winnetou, the Apache Indian.

But the fact of the matter was May had not been to any of the
places mentioned in his famous stories until long after they had
been in circulation, during the 1900s.

Many scholars believe that his literary bent sprouted during
the time he spent in prison for impersonating a police officer.
They also speculate he was influenced by German travelers'
accounts of the American Wild West, and inspired by novels such
as James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans.

Karl May was born Carl Friedrich May in 1842 to a poor
weaver's family in Hohenstein-Ernstthal/Sachsen, near Dresden in
Germany. The fourth of fifteen children, and one of only five to
survive infancy, May had suffered from malnutrition during his
childhood and temporary blindness for the first five years of his
life.

He was expelled from boarding school for stealing candles and
later when he became teacher, his license was revoked for the
theft of a watch. Later, May was arrested twice for fraud.

After his release in 1874 May found work as an editor in
Dresden, and began publishing his first stories. His first book
Im fernen Western (In the Distant West) in 1879 was a reworking
of his earlier tales, such as Old Firehand (1875).

Winnetou was perhaps May's best known work, published in three
volumes between 1876 and 1893. Winnetou tells the story of the
friendship between German cowboy Old Shatterhand and Winnetou the
Indian chief.

Winnetou and Old Shatterhand debuted on the silver screen in
the early 1960s, and between 1963 to 1968, six films were made
starring Pierre Brice as Winnetou and Lex Barker as Old
Shatterhand.

May died on March 30, 1912 in Radebeul after suffering from a
severe case of pneumonia.

Out of respect for the German author, GoetheHaus will organize
a film screening and discussion of the works of Karl May on April
4 and April 5.

A 40-minute film, titled The Tragedy and Triumph of Karl May,
will be shown on April 4 at 5:00 p.m. and will be followed by a
90-minute parody of Karl May's films from the 1960s, Manitou's
Shoe, at 6:40 p.m.

Winnetou I will be screened the following day at 1:00 p.m.,
and will be followed by a slide show at 2:45 p.m.

A discussion of May's book Und Friede auf Erden (And Peace on
Earth) (1901/1904), led by Goenawan Mohamad, will be organized on
April 4 at 7:30 p.m., and one on Winnetou I with Seno Gumira
Ajidarma is scheduled for the next day at 3:40 p.m.

I-box:
Hommage an Karl May on April 4 and April 5 at GoetheHaus, Jl. Sam
Ratulangi 9-15, Menteng, Central Jakarta. For more information
call 021-23550208.