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
chief of the
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 observer-narrator (for example
Der Gitano, 1875) to a narrator with heroic skills and equipment, to a fully formed first-person narrator-hero. 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. Non-
dogmatic Christian values play an important role in May's works. Some of the characters are described as being of German, particularly
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. In his later works (after 1900) May left the adventure fiction genre to write
symbolic 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.
Early work In his early work, May wrote in a variety of genres until he showed his proficiency in travel stories. 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 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. 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. During his last years, May lectured on his
philosophical ideas. •
Drei Menschheitsfragen: Wer sind wir? Woher kommen wir? Wohin gehen wir? (
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. == Reception ==