Karl F. May stories have a big following in and outside of Germany

July 7, 2012 sarah Fitness

The author Karl Friedrich May is one of the most widely read German authors of the 20th century. He was given birth to on 02/25/1842 and deceased on 03/30/1912. At least two hundred million units of Karl Friedrich May’s novels have been purchased world-wide. The most renowned characters of Karl F. May’s novels are Old Shatterhand and Winnetou. Winnetou is the clever prince of the Apache Indians, and Old Shatterhand is his white companion.

From 1912 to 1968 there were publicized twenty-three movies following Karl May’s novels. The American actor Lex Barker became very famous for playing the role of Old Shatterhand. Another important Karl May figure is Old Shurehand. The British actor Stewart Granger played the role of Old Shurehand in 3 movies. The movies became quite successful, although partially only imprecisely reflecting the original Karl May volumes.

The Karl May books have been translated into more than thirty-five languages and have been released in many countries. They are well-known even in countries like the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. The German Karl Friedrich May collection consists of at least eighty-one novels, all of which may be available at that Internet book store: Karl May Buecher.

Novels 1 – 9 have been released to the German public under those titles:

• Bd. 1: Durch die Wueste
• Bd. 2: Durchs wilde Kurdistan
• Bd. 3: Von Bagdad nach Stambul
• Bd. 4: In den Schluchten des Balkan
• Bd. 5: Durch das Land der Skipetaren
• Bd. 6: Der Schut
• Bd. 7: Winnetou I
• Bd. 8: Winnetou II
• Bd. 9: Winnetou III

Karl May wrote the the 3 Old Shurehand novels and the first three Winnetou books before 1900. They are set in the illustrious Wild West of North America. Mentionable is the actuality that Karl Friedrich May’s first trip to America occured not before the year 1908. This voyage took him to Buffalo, the Niagara Falls and Albany, but not farther west. So his famous works are a product of creativity, imagination and literature studies like travel accounts, maps and guide books, as well as anthropological and linguistic publications.