Editing Karl May (section)

== 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.<ref name=PetzelWehnertLexikon>Petzel M. and Wehnert J. ''Das neue Lexikon rund um Karl May.'' Lexikon Imprint Verlag, Berlin 2002.</ref>

May's first translated work is considered to have been the first half of the ''Orient Cycle'' into a French [[Daily newspaper|daily]] in 1881.<ref name=ThuenaUebersetzungen>von Thüna U. ''Übersetzungen'' in Ueding G.''Karl-May-Handbuch'' Königshausen & Neumann, 2001 pp. 519–522. {{ISBN|9783826018138}}.</ref> Recently, it was discovered, and confirmed by Hans Dieter Steinmet ([[Karl May Museum]]) that [[Croat]]ian writer [[Nikola Tordinac]] published a translation of May's novel ''Tree carde monte'' in the magazine Sriemski Hrvat in 1880.<ref name=glas>[http://www.glas-slavonije.hr/320453/4/Glas-Slavonije-otkrio-je-prvi-Tordincev-prijevod-Karla-Maya-u-svijetu Glas Slavonije otkrio je prvi, Tordinčev prijevod Karla Maya u svijetu!] ''[[Glas Slavonije]]'', 20 December 2016. Access date 8 June 2020.</ref> Tordinac's translation became a part of the permanent exhibition of the Karl May Museum in 2017.<ref name=glas/> Since that time, May's work has been translated into more than 30 languages, including [[Latin]] and [[Esperanto]]. In the 1960s, [[UNESCO]] indicated that May was the most frequently translated German writer.<ref name=PetzelWehnertLexikon/> His most popular translations are in [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Hungary|Hungarian]] and Dutch.<ref name=ThuenaUebersetzungen/> Seabury Press, New York, began publishing English translations by Michael Shaw in 1977.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Cook|first=Colleen|date=1982|title=Germany's Wild West Author: A Researcher's Guide to Karl May|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1429849|journal=German Studies Review|volume=5|issue=1|pages=67–86|doi=10.2307/1429849|jstor=1429849|issn=0149-7952}}</ref> In 2001, Nemsi Books Publishing Company, [[Pierpont, South Dakota]], was one of the first English publishing houses to produce the unabridged translations of May's ''oeuvre''. Since the closing of Nemsi Books in 2023, some of the English translations by Juergen Nett have been made available on Amazon through KDP.

=== Influence ===
May had a substantial influence on a number of well-known German-speaking people and on the German population itself.<ref name="ECO">[http://people.uwec.edu/ivogeler/w188/articles/karlmay.htm "''Ich bin ein Cowboy''"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006151029/http://people.uwec.edu/ivogeler/w188/articles/karlmay.htm |date=6 October 2014 }} ''[[The Economist]]'', 24 May 2001.</ref> 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.<ref name="NYTT"/> His readers longed to escape from an industrialised, capitalist society, an escape which May offered.<ref>Camurat D. [http://net.lib.byu.edu/estu/wwi/comment/Cmrts/Cmrt4.html ''The American Indian in the Great War, Real and Imagined'']</ref> May "helped shape the collective German dream of feats far beyond middle-class bounds."<ref name="NYTT">[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE4DD173CF937A35752C0A961948260&sec=&spon= ''Tales Of The Grand Teutons: Karl May Among The Indians.''] ''[[The New York Times]]'', 4 January 1987</ref> and contributed to the [[popular image of Native Americans in German-speaking countries]], which has been described by many as racist and harmful.<ref>{{Cite web|title=German Writers and Race: Modern Germany's Cognitive Dissonance on Racism and its Roots in Karl May's Legacy|url=https://www.brandeis.edu/cges/news-events/fall-2020/201130_haircrow_red.html|access-date=2021-06-28|website=www.brandeis.edu|language=en}}</ref>

The name ''Winnetou'' has an entry in the German dictionary, [[Duden]]. 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).<ref name="ECO"/>

Many well-known German-speaking people used May's heroes as models in their childhood.<ref>Müller E. ''Aufgespießt'' in ''KMG-Nachrichten''</ref> [[Albert Einstein]] 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..."<ref name="NYTT"/>

==== Influence on the Nazis ====
[[Adolf Hitler]] 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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ryback |first1=Timothy W. |title=‘Hitler’s Private Library’ |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/books/chapters/chapter-hitlers-private-library.html |website=New York Times}}</ref> According to an anonymous friend, Hitler attended the lecture given by May in Vienna in March 1912 and was enthusiastic about the event.<ref>Anonymous ''Mein Freund Hitler'' in Moravsky ilustrovany zpravodaj. 1935, No. 40 p10.</ref> The lecture was an appeal for peace, also heard by [[Nobel Peace Prize]] laureate [[Bertha von Suttner]]. May died suddenly only ten days after the lecture, leaving the young Hitler deeply upset.<ref>Hamman B. ''Hitler's Vienna: A Dictator's Apprenticeship'' Oxford University Press, New York 1999 pp 382–385 {{ISBN|0-19-512537-1}}.</ref> [[Claus Roxin]] noted that he doubts the anonymous description, because Hitler had said much about May, but not that he had seen him.<ref>Roxin C. Letter dated 24 February 2004. Cited in Wohlgschaft ''Karl May – Leben und Werk'', p. 2000.</ref> Hitler defended May against critics in the [[Meldemannstraße dormitory|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",<ref name="TNR"/> though some note that the latter claims of using the books as military guidance are not substantiated.<ref name="NYTT"/> However, as told by [[Albert Speer]], "when faced by seemingly hopeless situations, he [Hitler] would still reach for these stories," because "they gave him courage like works of philosophy for others or the Bible for elderly people."<ref name="TNR">Grafton A. [http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=1fb48fe8-1d1c-4088-a435-f72087238c07&p=1 ''Mein Buch''] ''[[The New Republic]]'', December 2008.</ref> Hitler's admiration for May led the German writer [[Klaus Mann]] to accuse May of having been a form of "mentor" for Hitler.<ref name="ECO"/> 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.<!--Several of May's novels were re-edited in an antisemitic style during the years of Nazism and led to serious misunderstandings about May's original intentions.<ref>Harder R. [http://www.karl-may-stiftung.de/missbraucht.html ''Mißbraucht im Dritten Reich.'']</ref>{{Failed verification|reason=Linked citation mentions NO re-editing. It talks about Nazis failing to understand and grasp the pacifist and Christian message of equality of all men in May's work – but not a word about re-editing of his works "in an antisemitic style".|date=July 2015}} and led to his books being deemed "chauvinist" by the Communist authorities of [[East Germany]] – though this did not affect his popularity or prevent a Karl May renaissance during the 1980s.<ref name="NYTT"/>---> The [[National Socialist]]s in particular tried to use May's popularity and his work for their purposes.<ref name="NYTT"/>

==== ''Indianertümelei'' ====
{{See also|Native Americans in German popular culture}}
The popularity of May's books sparked a fascination in German popular culture with the [[Indigenous peoples of North America]] that continues to this day. In 1985, the German scholar Hartmut Lutz invented the term ''Deutsche Indianertümelei'' ("German Indian Enthusiasm") for the phenomenon.<ref name="Watchman, Renne p. 12">Watchman, Renne, Lutz, Hartmut & Strzelczyk, Florence ''Indianthusiasm'', Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier Press, 2020 p. 12</ref> The phrase ''Indianertümelei'' is a reference to the German term {{wikt-lang|de|Deutschtümelei}} ("German Enthusiasm") which mockingly describes the phenomenon of celebrating in an excessively nationalistic and romanticized manner ''Deutschtum'' ("Germanness").<ref name="Watchman, Renne p. 12"/> In the English-speaking world, the phenomenon of the German obsession with the First Nations of North America is known as "Indianthusiasm".<ref name="Watchman, Renne p. 12"/> In a 1999 speech delivered in the United States in English, Lutz declared:

{{Blockquote|For over two hundred years Germans have found ''Indianer'' so fascinating that even today an Indian iconography is used in advertising. The most popular image of the ''Indianer'' is provided by Karl May's fictional Apache chief Winnetou...Indian lore is profitable and marketable, as some Native Americans travelling in Germany may attest...There is a marked Indian presence in German everyday culture, even down to the linguistic level, where sentences like ''ein Indianer weint nicht'' (an Indian doesn't cry), ''ein Indianer kennt keinen Schmerz'' (an Indian braves pain) or figures such as ''der letzte Mohikaner'' (the Last of the Mohicans) have become part of the everyday speech.<ref>Watchman, Renne, Lutz, Hartmut & Strzelczyk, Florence ''Indianthusiasm'', Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier Press, 2020 p. 13</ref>}}

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.<ref name="Watchman, Renne p. 16">Watchman, Renne, Lutz, Hartmut & Strzelczyk, Florence ''Indianthusiasm'', Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier Press, 2020 p. 16</ref> 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.<ref name="Watchman, Renne p. 16"/> In 2019, it was estimated that between 40,000 and 100,000 Germans are involved in ''Indianer'' hobbyist clubs at any given moment.<ref name="Watchman, Renne p. 16"/> 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 [pretending to be] Lakota, 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".<ref>Watchman, Renne, Lutz, Hartmut & Strzelczyk, Florence ''Indianthusiasm'', Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier Press, 2020 pp. 16–17</ref> 

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:

{{Blockquote|As Americans, we tend to find the German infatuation with Native Americans campy and naïve. But the comfort of Karl May fans with May’s historical inaccuracies surely comes in part from their confident knowledge of the actual history. Whereas we know almost nothing. We do not proclaim our innocence; we do not feel we are on trial.<ref>Galchen, Rivka, Wild West Germany, in: The New Yorker, April 2, 2012</ref>}}

==== Influence on other authors ====
The German writer [[Carl Zuckmayer]] was intrigued by May's Apache chief and named his daughter ''Maria Winnetou''.<ref name=PetzelWehnertLexikon/> [[Max von der Grün]] 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."<ref>[http://thg.lernnetz.de/hp/?id=50 ''Thor Heyerdahl Gymnasium, Anecdotes''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719054528/http://thg.lernnetz.de/hp/?id=50 |date=19 July 2011 }} in German.</ref> 
[[Heinz Werner Höber]], the twofold [[Friedrich Glauser|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."<ref>Eik J. ''Der Mann, der Jerry Cotton war. Erinnerungen des Bestsellerautors Heinz Werner Höber''. Das Neue Berlin, Berlin, 1996. {{ISBN|9783359007999}}</ref>

=== Honors ===
[[Asteroids]] [[348 May]] and [[15728 Karlmay]] are named in May's honour.<ref>[http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=15728+Karlmay ''15728 Karlmay''] [[NASA]] Jet Propulsion Laboratory – Small-Body Database. Accessed 16 October 2012.</ref>