Karl May's Orientalism

Mavi Boncuk |

Karl May is the most widely read of all German writers. This year, which marks the 100th anniversary of his death, a number of new biographies seek to reconsider Karl May's place in German literary history.Two publications in particular show just how differently this subject matter can be tackled: Karl May. Untertan, Hochstapler, Übermensch (Karl May: Subject, Fraud, Superhuman) by Rüdiger Schaper and Karl May oder Die Macht der Phantasie (Karl May or the Power of Fantasy) by Helmut Schmiedt. 


Karl May[1] who became popular for adventure novels set in the American Old West, (best known for the characters of Winnetou and Old Shatterhand) he wrote Oriental adventures of Kara Ben Nemsi.


(Photo: Karl May as Kara Ben Nemsi)

Mavi Boncuk |

Kara Ben Nemsi (in Arabic: كارة بن نمسي Karl The [Son of] Austrian, meant was Karl the son of Germans) is a fictional character in the works of Karl May, best-selling 19th century German writer.Alter ego of the author, everything written from first person perspective, he travels throughout the Ottoman empire, alongside his friend and servant Hadschi Halef Omar.


His character being identical to that of Old Shatterhand, he owns two famous rifles, the Bärentöter(Bear Killer) and the Henrystutzen (Henry Carbine). Without ever leaving the saddle of his fabulous black horse Rih, Kara Ben Nemsi single-handedly fights off droves of thieves and crooks left and right. On night-long rides through bleak and barren lands, he never wavered in sharing his long-winded religious musings with unenlightened natives and readers alike.

Original German stories

Durch Wüste und Harem (1892), since 1895 with the title Durch die Wüste

Durchs wilde Kurdistan (1892)

Film:  1965 Directed by Franz Josef Gottlieb. In Kurdistan Ahmed, the sheikh's son of Halef's Bedouin tribe, is captured by the Turkish governor's militia. Kara Ben Nemsi and Halef try to rescue him and re-meet Sir David Lindsay who is venturing to help a lady in distress.

Von Bagdad nach Stambul (1892)
In den Schluchten des Balkan (1892)
Durch das Land der Skipetaren (1892)
Der Schut (1892)
Orangen und Datteln (1893, Anthology: Die Gum, Der Krumir and others)
Eine Befreiung (within Die Rose von Kaïrwan, 1894)
Im Lande des Mahdi I (1896)
Im Lande des Mahdi II (1896)
Im Lande des Mahdi III (1896)
Satan und Ischariot II (1897)
Er Raml el Helahk (within Auf fremden Pfaden, 1897)
Blutrache (within Auf fremden Pfaden, 1897)
Der Kutb (within Auf fremden Pfaden, 1897)
Der Kys-Kaptschiji (within Auf fremden Pfaden, 1897)
Maria oder Fatima (within Auf fremden Pfaden, 1897)

Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen I (1898)

Kara Ben-Nemsi, friends and rescuees set out to free a young relative of the guardian of the treasure of the Chaldaeans 'Christian sect), who is captured for that fabulous ransom. They discover the machradsh of Mossul isn't dead. Indeed he teamed up with local gangster leader Abu Saif, focusing on revenge viz. the gold. The governor even maneuvers to be reinstated and have Kara declared wanted by the padishah. Kara manages to undo all that and save the Chaldaean treasure.

Film: Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen | 1965 Directed by Franz Josef Gottlieb Cast: Lex Barker, Marie Versini, Ralf Wolter, Dieter Borsche, Chris Howland, Djordje Nenadovic

Die »Umm ed Dschamahl« (1898)
Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen II (1898)
Am Jenseits (1899)
Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen III (1902)
Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen IV (1903)
Bei den Aussätzigen (1907)
Abdahn Effendi (1908)
Merhameh (1909)
Ardistan und Dschinnistan I (1909)
Ardistan und Dschinnistan II (1909)


[1] Karl Friedrich May (25 February 1842 – 30 March 1912) was a popular German writer, noted mainly for adventure novels set in the American Old West, best known for the characters of Winnetou and Old Shatterhand. Throughout his life, Karl May claimed that he and his magnificent heroes Old Shatterhand and Kara Ben Nemsi were one and the same person and that he had personally experienced the adventures he related. Winnetou, Durchs wilde Kurdistan (Through Wild Kurdistan) and all his other classics were published as travel literature and feigned an authenticity that was long taken at face value. The truth of the matter is that it was only in later life that May actually travelled beyond the boundaries of Europe and visited some of the places he had previously described so vividly in his works. The drawing of parallels between May and his contemporary Franz Kafka is particularly original. Both authors wrote about America without ever having been there; one as the "surveyor of dreams"; the other as the "surveyor of nightmares"