Ardistan and Jinnistan
Ardistan and Dschinnistan is a two-part series of novels ( Ardistan and Der Mir von Dschinnistan ) from the late work of the German writer Karl May , which is set on the star Sitara , which arises from the author's imagination.
background
The story was initially published from 1907 to 1909 as a sequel in the Catholic magazine Deutscher Hausschatz under the title Der Mir von Dschinnistan . It was published as a book edition in 1910 as the 31st and 32nd volume of the collected travel stories by the Friedrich Ernst Fehsenfeld publishing house.
According to a description by the author, Sitara is found by flying three months towards the sun and then three months beyond - but since the earth has also moved to the other side of the sun in six months, this is the planet that is found there , none other than the earth itself.
Ardistan und Dschinnistan is one of the most important late works of May, in which he distances himself more and more from his adventurous travel stories, through which he achieved his fame, and expresses his worldview in mysterious stories. The central theme is the development of man from the lower “earthly” beginning (Ardistan, “land of the soil”) to the “higher level” of the conscious “spiritual” man (Jinnistan, “land of the spirit”), whom May describes as “noble man”. According to May's own view, the noble man is an intellectual who acts monotheistically, religiously and humanistically at the same time.
action
Together with his loyal companion Hajji Halef Omar, Kara Ben Nemsi , Karl May's alter ego, travels to a mysterious world with the warring realms of Ardistan ( Arabic أرض, DMG arḍ 'earth, soil') and Jinnistan (جن / ǧinn / 'spirit') and experiences a simile, complex action.
The journey begins in Sitara and ends at the borders of Djinnistan. The gates to paradise are said to be beyond Jinnistan. On the way, the narrator meets different peoples who represent different stages of this development; Since the story is embedded in an oriental context, the people and communities described have Arabic and Indian features. The very impressively described landscapes undergo a parallel change and find role models in Central Asia and South Asia .
Kara Ben Nemsi is commissioned by Marah Durimeh to prevent an impending war between the countries of Ardistan and Jinnistan. The narrator and his companion begin their journey in Ikbal. First they meet the Ussul people (أصل / aṣl / 'Ursprung'), a tall group of people who live under the anarchist-pacifist conditions of the “ noble savage ” in a swampy area. A young Ussul, who is about to become noble men and the new Mir of Jinnistan within the novel , joins the travelers.
The next thing is a warlike but bloodless confrontation with the Choban, a Muslim nomad people who are under the rule of Mirs of Ardistan. This me (أمير / amīr / 'Prince') has a reputation as a cruel, depraved ruler, but in direct contact turns out to be a seeker who cannot develop his fundamentally positive character traits in the city of Ard because he has ossified under the influence of his inhuman family tradition and an ossified one Lamaist priestly caste.
The further events lead to an emancipation of the Mir from Ardistan from outside influences and a character formation so that he can fulfill his task as a just ruler in the future. May uses a large number of externally oriental, but internally Christian metaphors. One example are angel-shaped monumental sculptures in the desert, which on closer inspection turn out to be water-bearing step wells. Water as a symbol of divine love also plays a role in the form of the river Ssuhl (صلح / ṣulḥ / 'Reconciliation, Peace'): As a punishment for the unjust acts of the Ardistani, the river dries up and made Ardistan a desert country. It is significant that the Ssuhl is fed by the meltwater from the glaciers of Jinnistan.
The core scene takes place in the "City of the Dead", the abandoned former capital of Ardistan, where Mir von Ardistan has a mystical encounter with his ancestors and renounces their cruelty and irresponsibility. As a reward, he is given large supplies that the Mire of Jinnistan created for him generations ago, with which he can revive the ghost town in the future.
After his purification, the Mir of Ardistan is prepared for the final confrontation with his enemies, the lamas and some apostates. This battle takes place on the border between Ardistan and Jinnistan, with the help of the Mirs of Jinnistan, described as almost supernatural. This will overcome the old enmity between Ardistan and Jinnistan, and the river Ssuhl will be returned to its old channels.
reception
For the writer and literary critic Hans Wollschläger , who has written a scientifically psychologizing biography about Karl May and in him does not primarily admire the young writer, but rather the author of the older work, the author achieves in his symbolic late phase and especially with Ardistan and Dschinnistan , in which he ruthlessly and virtuously settling accounts with its enemies, the literary plateau.
expenditure
The novels are held by several publishers. A selection:
- Karl May, Hans Wollschläger: Ardistan and Dschinnistan I. Critical Edition (hardcover), Karl May Verlag 2005 - ISBN 3780206501
- Karl May, Hans Wollschläger: Ardistan and Dschinnistan II. Critical Edition (hardcover), Karl May Verlag 2007 - ISBN 378020651X
- Karl May: Ardistan and Dschinnistan, Vol. 1 - Ardistan , Verlag Neues Leben (1993) - ISBN 3355013714
- Karl May: Ardistan and Dschinnistan, Vol. 2 - Der Mir von Dschinnistan , Verlag Neues Leben (1993) - ISBN 3355013722
literature
- Ekkehard Bartsch: Ardistan and Dschinnistan. Origin and history , in: Jb-KMG 1977, p. 81 ff. ( Online version ).
- Joachim Dietze: Karl May's vocabulary. A frequency dictionary on “Waldröschen” and “Ardistan und Dschinnistan” , Georg Olms Verlag 1999, ISBN 3-487-10535-7
- Christoph F. Lorenz: From the brass city to the city of the dead. Imagery and literary tradition of “Ardistan and Dschinnistan” . In: Heinz Ludwig Arnold (Ed.): Karl May (special volume text + criticism) , Munich: edition text + kritik 1987, pp. 222–243.
- Oskar N. Sahlberg : The "grand mystic" Karl May. The conception and birth dreams of the son and the father. "In the realm of the silver lion". “Ardistan and Dschinnistan” , in: Meredith McClain, Reinhold Wolff (eds.): Karl May im Llano estacado (on the symposium of the Karl May Society in Lubbock / USA 2000). Hansa Verlag, Husum 2004, pp. 243-275, here especially pp. 255-259.
- Gert Ueding : Leben aus der Totenstadt , about Karl Mays Ardistan and Dschinnistan in Marcel Reich-Ranicki (Ed.) Novels from yesterday - read today , Vol. I 1900–1918, pp. 122–128, S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt a . M. 1989, ISBN 3-10-062910-8
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans Wollschläger, Karl May - Outline of a broken life. Zurich 1965.