Editing Karl May (section)

== 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]], the wise [[Tribal chief|chief]] of the [[Apache Tribe|Apaches]], and [[Old Shatterhand]], Winnetou's white [[blood brother]]. Another series of novels were set in the [[Ottoman Empire]]. In these, the narrator-protagonist, [[Kara Ben Nemsi]], travels with his local guide and servant [[Hadschi Halef Omar]] through the [[Sahara]] desert to the [[Near East]], experiencing many exciting adventures.

May's writing developed from the anonymous [[first-person narrative|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.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}

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]], [[Gabriel Ferry]], [[Friedrich Gerstäcker]], [[Balduin Möllhausen]] and [[Mayne Reid]] served as his models.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}

Non-[[dogma]]tic Christian values play an important role in May's works. Some of the characters are described as being of German, particularly [[Saxony|Saxon]], 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.<ref>May K. ''Letter to Herbert Friedländer'' (13 April 1906) in Wohlgschaft H. ''Karl May, Leben und Werk'', Buecherhaus Bargfeld, Germany, 2005 p1555f. {{ISBN|3930713934}}.</ref>

In his later works (after 1900) May left the adventure fiction genre to write [[symbol]]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.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

=== Early work ===
In his early work, May wrote in a variety of genres until he showed his proficiency in travel stories.<ref name=LowskyKM>Lowsky M. ''Karl May'' Metzler, Stuttgart, 1987, vol 231 p38.</ref> 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 [[Gabriel Ferry]])
* ''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]] and early travel stories (for example, ''Inn-nu-woh, der Indianerhäuptling'', 1875)
* [[Crime fiction]] (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]] (for example, ''Pandur und Grenadier'', 1883)
* Stories of villages in the [[Ore Mountains]] (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 ===
[[File:Karl May Die Tochter des Granden 001.jpg|thumb|220px|right|Cover for ''Waldröschen'']]
May wrote five large (many thousands of pages) [[colportage]] 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.<ref name=WehnertText/>

=== Travel stories ===
[[File:BergenF Orangen-und-datteln.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Cover of ''Orangen und Datteln'' by Fritz Bergen (1893)]]
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 ''[[Winnetou]]-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 ===
[[File:Karl May Der blaurote Methusalem Herrfurth 001.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Cover of ''Der blaurote Methusalem'' by [[Oskar Herrfurth]]]]
These stories were written from 1887 to 1897 for the magazine ''Der Gute Kamerad''. Most of the stories are set in the [[Wild West]], 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 ===
[[File:Sascha Schneider Ardistan.jpg|thumb|right|220px|''Ardistan und Dschinnistan'', 1909, cover by [[Sascha Schneider]] showing [[Marah Durimeh]]]]
May's mature work dates to 1900, after his travels to the East.<ref name=SchmidGestaltIdee>Schmid E. A. ''Gestalt und Idee.'' pp. 367–420 in ''Karl May.'' ICH 39th Edition Verlag, Bamberg, 1995</ref> 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]]'' and ''Vergiss mich nicht'' within ''Ernste Klänge'', 1899.<ref name=KuehneLorenzMusik>Kühne H. and Lorenz C. F. ''Karl May und die Musik''. Verlag, Bamberg and Radebeul, 1999.</ref>

During his last years, May lectured on his [[Philosophy|philosophical]] ideas.
* ''Drei Menschheitsfragen: Wer sind wir? Woher kommen wir? Wohin gehen wir?'' ([[Lawrence, Massachusetts|Lawrence]], 1908)
* ''Sitara, das Land der Menschheitsseele'' ([[Augsburg]], 1909)
* ''Empor ins Reich der Edelmenschen'' ([[Vienna]], 1912)

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