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notalek's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
[update recenzji po skończeniu się mojej hiperfiksacji na te głupie książki XD bo chciałem to długo zrobić i ciągle zapominam]
– Co za człowiek z Old Shatterhanda! – zawołał wreszcie. – Kto go pojmie?
– Nauczysz się jeszcze mnie pojmować.
Ważne: nie uważam że to dobre książki pod względem przedstawienia native amerykanów, są w tym wręcz bardzo złe, podczas ich czytania powinno się Myśleć i pamiętać że są stare, a ich autor był białym europejczykiem w XIX wieku, który nigdy nie postawił nogi (ani żadnej innej części ciała) na Zachodzie.
a co do innych myśli (przepraszam za ponglish, ale jest druga w nocy):
– matko jedyna it was even gayer than I remembered, good for them.
– ale obojętnie jak się patrzy na relację Shatterhanda i Winnetou jest ona naprawdę Czymś, mógłbym o nich mówić bardzo długo. nawet jeśli czasem mnie irytuje gdy są kreowani na zbyt idealnych (nie zawsze though! mają swoje różnice zdań i ogólnie różnice między sobą).
– Sam Hawkens is a true 40 years old babygirl and I love him, he's the kind of a slightly problematic but otherwise lovely uncle, a także największe źródło humoru w tym tomie. mam też całą listę zwrotów jakimi nazywa głównego bohatera w ciągu książki, przy tym ani razu nie używając ani jego prawdziwego imienia, ani nadanego przez innych przydomku.
– Dick Stone i Will Parker nadal nie mają za wiele własnej osobowości, but theirs and Sam's relationship is kinda cute.
– Shatterhand to jeszcze większy nerd niż pamiętałem.
– wprawdzie ten tom nie przeszedłby testu Bechdel, ale Nszo-czi prawie to nadrabia tamtą oburzoną mową po tym jak Shatterhand powiedział coś ignoranckiego. w ogóle ona sama miała spory potencjał postaci, ale: sprawy.
– nigdy chyba nie jest powiedziane, ile dokładnie lat mają główni bohaterowie, wiemy tylko że Shatterhand i Winnetou są "bardzo młodzi", a Nszo-czi ma ok. 18 lat, więc zakładam że tamci mają koło 20? może trochę więcej, ale nie więcej niż 20-parę i o rany to tylko trochę więcej niż ja????
– dalej mnie bawi, że prawdziwe imię Shatterhanda jest w tym tomie wymienione dosłownie jeden (1) raz, plus dwa razy specjalne zdrobnienie Winnetou.
– im jest się starszym i bardziej zna się świat, tym bardziej wkurzają postaci typu Rattler, który wprawdzie jest bardzo jednowymiarowy, ale niestety nie jest tak nierealistyczny jak mógłby być.
– Sam Hawkens je myszy polne!
dziękuję za uwagę, w ciągu dnia zabieram się za kolejny tom (który, z tego co pamiętam, jest już dosyć mroczniejszy niż pierwszy).
– Co za człowiek z Old Shatterhanda! – zawołał wreszcie. – Kto go pojmie?
– Nauczysz się jeszcze mnie pojmować.
Ważne: nie uważam że to dobre książki pod względem przedstawienia native amerykanów, są w tym wręcz bardzo złe, podczas ich czytania powinno się Myśleć i pamiętać że są stare, a ich autor był białym europejczykiem w XIX wieku, który nigdy nie postawił nogi (ani żadnej innej części ciała) na Zachodzie.
a co do innych myśli (przepraszam za ponglish, ale jest druga w nocy):
– matko jedyna it was even gayer than I remembered, good for them.
– ale obojętnie jak się patrzy na relację Shatterhanda i Winnetou jest ona naprawdę Czymś, mógłbym o nich mówić bardzo długo. nawet jeśli czasem mnie irytuje gdy są kreowani na zbyt idealnych (nie zawsze though! mają swoje różnice zdań i ogólnie różnice między sobą).
– Sam Hawkens is a true 40 years old babygirl and I love him, he's the kind of a slightly problematic but otherwise lovely uncle, a także największe źródło humoru w tym tomie. mam też całą listę zwrotów jakimi nazywa głównego bohatera w ciągu książki, przy tym ani razu nie używając ani jego prawdziwego imienia, ani nadanego przez innych przydomku.
– Dick Stone i Will Parker nadal nie mają za wiele własnej osobowości, but theirs and Sam's relationship is kinda cute.
– Shatterhand to jeszcze większy nerd niż pamiętałem.
– wprawdzie ten tom nie przeszedłby testu Bechdel, ale Nszo-czi prawie to nadrabia tamtą oburzoną mową po tym jak Shatterhand powiedział coś ignoranckiego. w ogóle ona sama miała spory potencjał postaci, ale: sprawy.
– nigdy chyba nie jest powiedziane, ile dokładnie lat mają główni bohaterowie, wiemy tylko że Shatterhand i Winnetou są "bardzo młodzi", a Nszo-czi ma ok. 18 lat, więc zakładam że tamci mają koło 20? może trochę więcej, ale nie więcej niż 20-parę i o rany to tylko trochę więcej niż ja????
– dalej mnie bawi, że prawdziwe imię Shatterhanda jest w tym tomie wymienione dosłownie jeden (1) raz, plus dwa razy specjalne zdrobnienie Winnetou.
– im jest się starszym i bardziej zna się świat, tym bardziej wkurzają postaci typu Rattler, który wprawdzie jest bardzo jednowymiarowy, ale niestety nie jest tak nierealistyczny jak mógłby być.
– Sam Hawkens je myszy polne!
dziękuję za uwagę, w ciągu dnia zabieram się za kolejny tom (który, z tego co pamiętam, jest już dosyć mroczniejszy niż pierwszy).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Death, and Alcohol
vampierusboy's review against another edition
2.0
Old fashioned and a bit to repitive mostly in dialogue.
One of the books that brought wild west tales to Europe, despite the author visiting America much later.
As a 19th century novel prepare yourself for racism, although I've seen worse. Old Shatterhand always has the moral high ground as a christian, European and literal one punch man.
It was fun to experience one of the classics in wild west literature but the story was really repetitive and the ending gave no satisfaction for me.
One of the books that brought wild west tales to Europe, despite the author visiting America much later.
As a 19th century novel prepare yourself for racism, although I've seen worse. Old Shatterhand always has the moral high ground as a christian, European and literal one punch man.
It was fun to experience one of the classics in wild west literature but the story was really repetitive and the ending gave no satisfaction for me.
avadena's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
ladyvictoriadiana's review against another edition
5.0
Es ist fantastisch, Karl May in seinen eigenen Worten zu lesen und der Text ist im Original sogar noch homoerotischer. Das einzige Problem ist, dass die Original- Editionen in Altdeutsch geschrieben sind und ich deswegen beim Lesen langsamer bin. Aber das ist es wert!
It’s amazing to read Karl May in his own, unedited words and, somehow, his text is even more homoerotic in the original. The only bad thing is that the original editions are written in the Old German script and I can’t read that as quickly or well as the Modern German script. Oh well, all labour is worth reading these books!
It’s amazing to read Karl May in his own, unedited words and, somehow, his text is even more homoerotic in the original. The only bad thing is that the original editions are written in the Old German script and I can’t read that as quickly or well as the Modern German script. Oh well, all labour is worth reading these books!
jennistark's review against another edition
1.0
Trite, to say the least. Would have been more enjoyable if I were a 10 year old living in Germany in 1900...
rosetintededelweiss's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
rosetinted_edelweiss's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
mymidnightheart's review against another edition
1.0
I stumbled by chance on Karl May’s novels after I learned that every year, about a million or more Germans gather at festivals in homage to his works. Looking at the widely available photos and videos online, I was… disturbed and upset to see so many white men and women dressed as Natives, to say the least (for reference, Karl May Spiele, 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpawVNerOm8; http://wild-west-reporter.com/galerie/) .
I’m the kind of person who feels required to look into the primary source material before forming an opinion, which is why I read this English translation (note for English speakers: the available translations have been edited to remove much of the overt racism and white superiority…) along with a great deal of articles, theses, etc. on the topic.
I will be blunt: my conclusion is that the whole phenomenon is racist. The novels, the festivals, the hobbyism, all of it.
Since I feel compelled to show my work, the rest of this review is going to be lengthy quoting of various scholars and Native American activists. You have been warned.
Introduction
“Westerns have earned their place at the heart of the national culture and American iconography abroad because they've provided a reliable vehicle for filmmakers to explore thorny issues of American history and character…
It's the task of Westerns to address that history, even as decade by decade that history becomes more and more embarrassing to us… [B]y now they all take place on contested ground.”
How the Western Was Lost (and Why It Matters)” by Michael Agresta (https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/07/how-the-western-was-lost-and-why-it-matters/278057/)
This quote is as good a place to start as any, and helps me understand just why this whole Winnetou thing got completely under my skin. There’s a lot to unpack about the Western genre. Much of the history of America is ugly, and a lot of things are still in the process of being worked through. In other words, the history is fresh, and the wounds still unhealed. So it seems an egregious affront to me that any other country would have the arrogance to play dress-up with that history, particularly, as it seems, for self-soothing and self-gratifying ends.
I cannot emphasize this enough: Europeans are directly responsible for America. The country would not exist as it does today if Europeans had not colonized it. There would not even be a discussion of the marginalization and victimization of Native peoples if Europeans hadn’t caused it. If they hadn’t, in their arrogance, each attempted to claim the continent for themselves. German settlers were a significant part of the colonization of America, and they too bear some responsibility for what happened to Natives (along with the Dutch, the French, the Spanish, the British... you get the picture).
The attitude conveyed by modern day Germans (and other Europeans) seems to be one of complete disavowal of that responsibility. They use the image of Natives as they please, seemingly without even the vaguest feeling that maybe they shouldn’t portray a historically oppressed, minority group without their consent or input or participation. It is painfully obvious that the only reason there isn’t any outrage or protest within Germany over these festivals is because there are not enough Natives physically present to do it.
Native American Activist, Red Crowhair
I want to begin by giving all due credit to Red Crowhair, an activist currently living in Germany, who has spent a great deal of time discussing, writing, speaking at events, and even filming a documentary on this issue.
Regarding the phenomenon, he says this: “[some Germans] vehemently feel they have the right to be “Indian hobbyists”, with some even making up “native sounding” names, choosing a tribe, and gathering a following by saying they’re native (when they’re really German, etc.). Some ignore or don’t seem to care what harm such practices can cause both natives and non-natives, negatively influencing their next generation of with “half-truths”.
One of the most important things they dismiss or won’t acknowledge, and what causes frustration for natives when anyone does this (and it’s a huge problem) is the way any minority might feel when someone is pretending to be them: They have not lived with the centuries of oppression, racism and genocide, much of which is still on-going for Native Americans.” (from his article “Pretendians” https://redhaircrow.com/2015/07/10/pretendians-why-offensive-to-indigenous-as-a-whole/)
[Before I move on, it would be remiss of me not to mention the ongoing issue of repatriating human remains from the Karl May Museum. The Museum has, by various means, gotten ahold of seventeen scalps from North America, some which belonged to Native Americans. When Native American tribes were alerted, they requested that the remains be returned. The Museum refused. More requests were made. After seven (!!) years, the Museum deigned to return one (!!) scalp, and has retained the rest. Read Red Crowhair’s post on the issue here: https://redhaircrow.com/2016/02/04/karl-may-museum-reneges-on-agreement-to-return-nativeamerican-scalps/. A German article, written in 2021, confirms that only one scalp was returned: (https://www.dw.com/en/karl-may-museum-returns-native-american-human-scalp/a-57181103).]
“Fiction and Politics: Karl May and the American West in Nineteenth Century German Sociopolitical Consciousness.”
Now let’s get into the scholarship. I’m going to quote extensively from this article: https://irl.umsl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1331&context=thesis, a thesis written by Emily Scott, graduate from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Anything bolded was done by me, for emphasis.
Scott says, “May’s novels and short stories do much more than tell a fascinating tale of life in the American West; they provide a German perspective on American culture and history which reveals much more about Germany than it ever could about the United States.
Influenced first by German political upheaval and a season of violence which led to the unification of Germany, May like many others spent much of his life searching for what it meant to be German. He found his answer in Germania , which supported the common belief that Germans were members of a superior race with a glorious ancestry which could be restored by looking to the past; in these novels, this played out in the glorification of Old Shatterhand, a German, and Winnetou, an Apache, who exhibited the noble qualities of Germany’s own “indigenous people.”
May’s depiction of Native Americans, particularly Winnetou, affirmed the idea of the “noble savage”. Although he could never hope to be fully equal with whites, Winnetou became an admirable character through his adoption of European religious and cultural practices.
Winnetou’s transformation also served as a justification for European imperialism; if he could become “better” with the help of a white man, so could the people of Africa and Asia that Germany and so many other nations were desperate to colonize.
Winnetou’s story arc proved the common European notion, based on theories of scientific racism, that members of “lesser” races could improve themselves by striving for whiteness, while also affirming the German belief that indigenous peoples, like the Saxons of Germania, where inherently brave and admirable due to their connection to nature.
It is this saint-like depiction of Winnetou that has led many scholars to argue that May was some sort of advocate against racism. As was mentioned before, caution must be taken with this statement, and those studying May must remember that while Winnetou was indeed a hero, he only became one by abandoning his religion and culture for those of a “superior” German man.
Winnetou is the perfect example of how many nineteenth century Europeans viewed Native Americans, as well as other peoples deemed lesser by theories of scientific racism. Just as it was Old Shatterhand’s “duty” in the novels to convert Winnetou into a pacifistic Christian, many of May’s contemporaries came to see it as their duty to Christianize and colonize other peoples by the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Winnetou, therefore, must be read as a tale heavily influenced by nineteenth century notions of race and racial mobility, rather than an early cry out against racism.
The following is a tiny excerpt showing Winnetou's Christianization:
If you are interested, I recommend reading the entire thesis, although it is quite long.
[Important!!! One thing Scott doesn’t mention is May’s portrayal of the Kiowas. They are a still-existing tribe of people that May uses as the main antagonist in Winnetou I. I have seen on goodreads, and elsewhere, a lot of protestation that the novels depict Natives positively. To that I say, positive for whom? Because that is definitely not the case for the Kiowas. They are portrayed as greedy, aggressive, thieving, stupid, boastful, lying, and bloodthirsty (in other words, exactly the way holier-than-thou Europeans like to claim Americans represent Natives in their Westerns).
One of May’s characters says this of the Kiowas: “Friend! The word means nothin’ to these Kiowas. You’re a friend so long as you got nothin’ worth stealin’.”
Our protagonist also yells into the Kiowa chief’s face at one point, “Liar! Cheat!” just to really underscore how the audience is supposed to feel about him.
If you’d like to learn more about the Kiowa tribe, their official website can be found here: https://kiowatribe.org/]
Conclusion
To be honest, it’s hard for me to decide where to end the review. There are more issues I could touch on (the German anatopisms, the fact that Adolf Hitler loved these novels, Karl May’s life of criminality and fraud…) but this has gone on long enough already. My main contentions, I suppose, are as follows:
-Karl May’s books are a racist product of his time, and reflect an attitude of German superiority and nationalism that was growing within the country.
-If modern-day Germans and Europeans understood this and accepted the novels as flawed, but perhaps still containing some historical value, I don’t think I would have a problem with them.
-However, the ongoing “Karl May mania” that has sprung up around them displays an unbelievable amount of disregard and disrespect for North American Native tribes. (It also seems troubling in the way it allows Germans to indulge in the kind of nationalism they say they despise…)
-Dressing up and “playing Indian” is ugly behavior that betrays a colonial mindset. Participants feel that they do not need to respect the wishes of a minority group regarding their narratives or depictions.
-The problem is further compounded by the very obvious profit motive. Many so-called Native products are being made and sold, not only by the festival staff, and by the museum, but also by the hobbysists themselves.
Lisa Aldred, who wrote “Plastic Shamans and Astroturf Sun Dances: New Age Commercialization of Native American Spirituality”, says this: “Native Americans have commented on the bitter irony of these plastic shamans profiting from the degrading, twisted versions of Native American rituals while many indigenous people still live below the poverty level. New Age interest in Native American cultures appears more concerned with exoticized images and romanticized rituals revolving around a distorted view of Native American spirituality than with the indigenous peoples themselves and the very real (and often ugly) socio-economic and political problems they face as colonized peoples.”
I end my rant here. To any still reading, I encourage you to dispense with the colonial and post-colonial image of Natives you may be holding onto. Learning history is one thing, keeping Natives in the past is another. Think critically about the media you consume, particularly when it comes from an older time. Accept that just because you may love these novels, or you can think of worse examples in the genre, or you feel that there have been at least a few positive outcomes, the colonial mindset and racism is not excused. Those reasons, or any other reason you might come up with (cognitive dissonance is real, folks), cannot erase the racism present in these novels and attendant festivals.
I’m the kind of person who feels required to look into the primary source material before forming an opinion, which is why I read this English translation (note for English speakers: the available translations have been edited to remove much of the overt racism and white superiority…) along with a great deal of articles, theses, etc. on the topic.
I will be blunt: my conclusion is that the whole phenomenon is racist. The novels, the festivals, the hobbyism, all of it.
Since I feel compelled to show my work, the rest of this review is going to be lengthy quoting of various scholars and Native American activists. You have been warned.
Introduction
“Westerns have earned their place at the heart of the national culture and American iconography abroad because they've provided a reliable vehicle for filmmakers to explore thorny issues of American history and character…
It's the task of Westerns to address that history, even as decade by decade that history becomes more and more embarrassing to us… [B]y now they all take place on contested ground.”
How the Western Was Lost (and Why It Matters)” by Michael Agresta (https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/07/how-the-western-was-lost-and-why-it-matters/278057/)
This quote is as good a place to start as any, and helps me understand just why this whole Winnetou thing got completely under my skin. There’s a lot to unpack about the Western genre. Much of the history of America is ugly, and a lot of things are still in the process of being worked through. In other words, the history is fresh, and the wounds still unhealed. So it seems an egregious affront to me that any other country would have the arrogance to play dress-up with that history, particularly, as it seems, for self-soothing and self-gratifying ends.
I cannot emphasize this enough: Europeans are directly responsible for America. The country would not exist as it does today if Europeans had not colonized it. There would not even be a discussion of the marginalization and victimization of Native peoples if Europeans hadn’t caused it. If they hadn’t, in their arrogance, each attempted to claim the continent for themselves. German settlers were a significant part of the colonization of America, and they too bear some responsibility for what happened to Natives (along with the Dutch, the French, the Spanish, the British... you get the picture).
The attitude conveyed by modern day Germans (and other Europeans) seems to be one of complete disavowal of that responsibility. They use the image of Natives as they please, seemingly without even the vaguest feeling that maybe they shouldn’t portray a historically oppressed, minority group without their consent or input or participation. It is painfully obvious that the only reason there isn’t any outrage or protest within Germany over these festivals is because there are not enough Natives physically present to do it.
Native American Activist, Red Crowhair
I want to begin by giving all due credit to Red Crowhair, an activist currently living in Germany, who has spent a great deal of time discussing, writing, speaking at events, and even filming a documentary on this issue.
Regarding the phenomenon, he says this: “[some Germans] vehemently feel they have the right to be “Indian hobbyists”, with some even making up “native sounding” names, choosing a tribe, and gathering a following by saying they’re native (when they’re really German, etc.). Some ignore or don’t seem to care what harm such practices can cause both natives and non-natives, negatively influencing their next generation of with “half-truths”.
One of the most important things they dismiss or won’t acknowledge, and what causes frustration for natives when anyone does this (and it’s a huge problem) is the way any minority might feel when someone is pretending to be them: They have not lived with the centuries of oppression, racism and genocide, much of which is still on-going for Native Americans.” (from his article “Pretendians” https://redhaircrow.com/2015/07/10/pretendians-why-offensive-to-indigenous-as-a-whole/)
[Before I move on, it would be remiss of me not to mention the ongoing issue of repatriating human remains from the Karl May Museum. The Museum has, by various means, gotten ahold of seventeen scalps from North America, some which belonged to Native Americans. When Native American tribes were alerted, they requested that the remains be returned. The Museum refused. More requests were made. After seven (!!) years, the Museum deigned to return one (!!) scalp, and has retained the rest. Read Red Crowhair’s post on the issue here: https://redhaircrow.com/2016/02/04/karl-may-museum-reneges-on-agreement-to-return-nativeamerican-scalps/. A German article, written in 2021, confirms that only one scalp was returned: (https://www.dw.com/en/karl-may-museum-returns-native-american-human-scalp/a-57181103).]
“Fiction and Politics: Karl May and the American West in Nineteenth Century German Sociopolitical Consciousness.”
Now let’s get into the scholarship. I’m going to quote extensively from this article: https://irl.umsl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1331&context=thesis, a thesis written by Emily Scott, graduate from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Anything bolded was done by me, for emphasis.
Scott says, “May’s novels and short stories do much more than tell a fascinating tale of life in the American West; they provide a German perspective on American culture and history which reveals much more about Germany than it ever could about the United States.
Influenced first by German political upheaval and a season of violence which led to the unification of Germany, May like many others spent much of his life searching for what it meant to be German. He found his answer in Germania , which supported the common belief that Germans were members of a superior race with a glorious ancestry which could be restored by looking to the past; in these novels, this played out in the glorification of Old Shatterhand, a German, and Winnetou, an Apache, who exhibited the noble qualities of Germany’s own “indigenous people.”
May’s depiction of Native Americans, particularly Winnetou, affirmed the idea of the “noble savage”. Although he could never hope to be fully equal with whites, Winnetou became an admirable character through his adoption of European religious and cultural practices.
Winnetou’s transformation also served as a justification for European imperialism; if he could become “better” with the help of a white man, so could the people of Africa and Asia that Germany and so many other nations were desperate to colonize.
Winnetou’s story arc proved the common European notion, based on theories of scientific racism, that members of “lesser” races could improve themselves by striving for whiteness, while also affirming the German belief that indigenous peoples, like the Saxons of Germania, where inherently brave and admirable due to their connection to nature.
It is this saint-like depiction of Winnetou that has led many scholars to argue that May was some sort of advocate against racism. As was mentioned before, caution must be taken with this statement, and those studying May must remember that while Winnetou was indeed a hero, he only became one by abandoning his religion and culture for those of a “superior” German man.
Winnetou is the perfect example of how many nineteenth century Europeans viewed Native Americans, as well as other peoples deemed lesser by theories of scientific racism. Just as it was Old Shatterhand’s “duty” in the novels to convert Winnetou into a pacifistic Christian, many of May’s contemporaries came to see it as their duty to Christianize and colonize other peoples by the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Winnetou, therefore, must be read as a tale heavily influenced by nineteenth century notions of race and racial mobility, rather than an early cry out against racism.
The following is a tiny excerpt showing Winnetou's Christianization:
Spoiler
Winnetou’s last words, which signify the end of his journey towards nobility, are: “Schar-lih, ich glaube an den Heiland. Winnetou is ein Christ. Lebe wohl!” Translating roughly to “Charlie, I believe in the savior/salvation. Winnetou is a Christian, farewell!”If you are interested, I recommend reading the entire thesis, although it is quite long.
[Important!!! One thing Scott doesn’t mention is May’s portrayal of the Kiowas. They are a still-existing tribe of people that May uses as the main antagonist in Winnetou I. I have seen on goodreads, and elsewhere, a lot of protestation that the novels depict Natives positively. To that I say, positive for whom? Because that is definitely not the case for the Kiowas. They are portrayed as greedy, aggressive, thieving, stupid, boastful, lying, and bloodthirsty (in other words, exactly the way holier-than-thou Europeans like to claim Americans represent Natives in their Westerns).
One of May’s characters says this of the Kiowas: “Friend! The word means nothin’ to these Kiowas. You’re a friend so long as you got nothin’ worth stealin’.”
Our protagonist also yells into the Kiowa chief’s face at one point, “Liar! Cheat!” just to really underscore how the audience is supposed to feel about him.
If you’d like to learn more about the Kiowa tribe, their official website can be found here: https://kiowatribe.org/]
Conclusion
To be honest, it’s hard for me to decide where to end the review. There are more issues I could touch on (the German anatopisms, the fact that Adolf Hitler loved these novels, Karl May’s life of criminality and fraud…) but this has gone on long enough already. My main contentions, I suppose, are as follows:
-Karl May’s books are a racist product of his time, and reflect an attitude of German superiority and nationalism that was growing within the country.
-If modern-day Germans and Europeans understood this and accepted the novels as flawed, but perhaps still containing some historical value, I don’t think I would have a problem with them.
-However, the ongoing “Karl May mania” that has sprung up around them displays an unbelievable amount of disregard and disrespect for North American Native tribes. (It also seems troubling in the way it allows Germans to indulge in the kind of nationalism they say they despise…)
-Dressing up and “playing Indian” is ugly behavior that betrays a colonial mindset. Participants feel that they do not need to respect the wishes of a minority group regarding their narratives or depictions.
-The problem is further compounded by the very obvious profit motive. Many so-called Native products are being made and sold, not only by the festival staff, and by the museum, but also by the hobbysists themselves.
Lisa Aldred, who wrote “Plastic Shamans and Astroturf Sun Dances: New Age Commercialization of Native American Spirituality”, says this: “Native Americans have commented on the bitter irony of these plastic shamans profiting from the degrading, twisted versions of Native American rituals while many indigenous people still live below the poverty level. New Age interest in Native American cultures appears more concerned with exoticized images and romanticized rituals revolving around a distorted view of Native American spirituality than with the indigenous peoples themselves and the very real (and often ugly) socio-economic and political problems they face as colonized peoples.”
I end my rant here. To any still reading, I encourage you to dispense with the colonial and post-colonial image of Natives you may be holding onto. Learning history is one thing, keeping Natives in the past is another. Think critically about the media you consume, particularly when it comes from an older time. Accept that just because you may love these novels, or you can think of worse examples in the genre, or you feel that there have been at least a few positive outcomes, the colonial mindset and racism is not excused. Those reasons, or any other reason you might come up with (cognitive dissonance is real, folks), cannot erase the racism present in these novels and attendant festivals.
charly_freedom's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
iecastancu's review against another edition
3.0
Puțin nerealistă prin calitățile lui Old Shatteehand, dar destul de realistă prin prezentarea indienilor. Îmi place stilul scrierii, al traducerii, dialogurile sunt bine plasate în narațiune și pline de haz și înțelepciune. Se citește ușor și te ține în suspans. Sigur voi continua seria.