The Book of Love (Karl May)

The book of love was published in 1876 and, even if Karl May took over many passages from other works in order to save work, it can be considered his first work.

precursor

The secrets of the temples of Venus of all times and peoples or The sensual pleasure and its priestesses. The history of prostitution and its emergence, as well as the explanation of its consequences on the development of mankind, was an erotic delivery work from the Münchmeyer house .

The work was published as early as the end of 1874 - together with the medical educational book The Venereal Diseases of Humans and Their Cure. With special consideration of syphilis, its development and consequences. Provided with over 100 allopathic and homeopathic recipes to cure all diseases that affect the genital organs - prohibited in Prussia and Austria-Hungary .

The book of love

The anonymous in the publishing of Heinrich Gotthold Münchmeyer in Dresden published book of love was subtitled: Scientific presentation of love in their ways, their determination, their history and their sexual episodes, along with a thorough discussion of all gender, women's and children's diseases with special reference of the puerperium together with instructions for curing all diseases. Written and edited for adult and scientifically educated people only. Although it also contains texts that did not come from May, it is the first book that he published as the responsible editor.

It was created because Münchmeyer still wanted to use the educational work The Venereal Diseases of Humans and Their Cure, which was distributed in his publishing house but was forbidden - partly in a new guise because of the censorship. May divided the existing text into three parts and defused it by introducing new aspects through his own passages and rearranging the existing texts.

The book of love consisted of 3 sections:

• [First section without title] (possibly entirely by Karl May);
• Second Section: Venereal Diseases of Man and Their Cure. With special consideration of syphilis, its origin and consequences (probably not by May, but at most edited by him);
• Third section: love according to its story. Depiction of the influence of love and its negations on the development of human society (certainly partly written by May).

First department

The first and shortest, but also the most independent section of the Book of Love bears neither a heading in the original edition, nor does it have chapter names; However, through the main title and the foreword it is easy to determine that it should be entitled Love according to its essence and purpose . As a motto, it is preceded by a quote from the Apostle Paul from his first letter to the Corinthians , which is followed by numerous other biblical quotations . A completely different tone is thus struck than in the first deliveries of the second section, which appeared at the same time, which, among other things, provided information about the male sexual organs, a dissonance that subsequently increased and certainly made many readers doubt that the biblical exegete and the sex medicine practitioner really should be one and the same person.

Second division

After all but the reader could in the second section about the sexually transmitted diseases of humans and its cure in connection with the circumcision find Bible references, because May had too gory description of circumcision technique for the Jews by a (presumably a reference acquired) describing their cultural and religious meaning: another example that he tried to weaken the medical part textually.

Third department

The catechist who has been a catechist proves to be biblically also otherwise in the book of love ; At the same time, however, his statements on the “Book of Books” and on the Christian religion in general reveal an astonishingly critical and independent attitude, influenced by the thoughts of the Enlightenment . Not only is the Bible valued as a historical and narrative human work (and not as a binding self-communication from God), central church dogmas such as the existence of the devil and hell, the divine trinity and even the divine sonship of Jesus Christ are largely rejected. Instead, May identifies God with love and calls for a love religion based on the Sermon on the Mount , which, in alliance with science , which was advancing to revolutionary knowledge at this time, has to work towards a utopian kingdom of charity and peace . In this way, May anticipates thoughts in the Book of Love , which he only formulated with a similarly determined approach in his later work , when he found the slogan "Up into the realm of noble men".

In this third section of the book of love , tellingly in the chapter In the Dark of Prehistoric Times (III-115), Karl May used the first four lines of the poem If um die Berge von Befour , and at the same time provided an interpretation. The poem was mentioned by him four more times in his works: in the “mailbox” of Schacht und Hütte , in Scepter and Hammer , in The Lost Son , in the (abridged) episode In der Heimath .

Marie Hannes reported in Allerlei von Karl May:

"... And he recited a long, perfectly formed poem, which described the charms of India in glowing colors and which I liked very much - [...] - Uncle Karl now asked, 'How do you like it?' 'It's beautiful,' I said with conviction. 'No,' said Uncle Karl in a strong voice, so that I gave a start - 'it's not pretty - it's bad, very bad. Because look - in this poem I placed too much emphasis - albeit semi-involuntarily - on language, on the strange, exotic form, it is peppered with indigenisms that are supposed to impress and kill the inner value of the poem ... "

Book editions

1988 / 89 one appeared reprint of Karl May company in two volumes, acted for Gernot Kunze as editor. Volume I contains the reprographic reprint, Volume II is a commentary volume. In the 2009 yearbook of the Karl May Society , Regina Zenzen published a supplement to the missing pages in the third section in Volume I.

As volume 87, Das Buch der Liebe was included in the series Karl May's Collected Works published by Karl May Verlag in 2006.

Karl May on The Book of Love

In The Prodigal Son

“You mentioned business connections earlier; However, this is not the case, although, strictly speaking, it is actually a business reason that prompts me to ask about this Melitta. "

Now it was convenient for him that earlier he had pretended to be a writer. So he declared:

"I received the order from my publishing house bookseller to write a book on the subject: Love in its social relationships -"

"Hm, a very interesting topic!"

"Certainly. Such work requires extensive preliminary studies. I finished this one; I am only ignorant of one relationship, namely with regard to the love that gives itself without claiming reciprocity. "

“Just say it freely! You mean the love that can be bought, as it can be found in certain houses? "

“Yes, I mean these. In this regard I have not the slightest experience. "

"Ah! You now want to have this experience and therefore visit Miss Melitta? "

"That's the way it is."

In German hearts - German heroes

“Yes, that's love. I read a book once. It was entitled: Love, its essence, its psychological properties and its physical consequences. It was written in it that - - - "

"How?" He said in astonishment. "Did you read this book?"

"Yes."

"Also from the physical consequences of love?"

"Yes. It was there, so I had to read it. "

“You were a lady; You never loved How did you come to this book? "

“A friend owned it. She praised it very much; that made me curious and she lent it to me. "

"Were there any pictures?"

"Yes."

"Thunder! Such a book should never come into female hands. "

"Why not? Must woman be stupid and ignorant? Isn't the girl allowed to learn anything? Shouldn't they know what demands will be made on their body later? Isn't it much easier for the girl to be tempted and roped if she doesn't know what she must know? "

“You may be right. So what was written in the book? "

He did not even notice that the clever one, who lay so trustingly and devotedly, so tenderly, so holy and pure in his arms, was a refined courtisane and only played with him. She answered:

“It said: When a kiss shudders through the body like a thousand bliss, that is love. And he who gives such a kiss is the right one. "

"Did it shiver through my kiss?"

"Yes."

"How often before that?"

“It was the very first time. I've never had such a feeling. "

"So am I the right one?"

“If the book told the truth. While kissing, the girl must feel that it is impossible to resist kissing. "

Remarks

1. ↑ Dieter Sudhoff in the editor's foreword in the volume he edited Karl May: Das Buch der Liebe. Scientific representation of love , Karl-May-Verlag Bamberg / Radebeul 2006, pp. 26–28.
2. ↑ http://karl-may-wiki.de/index.php/Wenn_um_die_Berge_von_Befour_(Gedicht)
3. ↑ http://karl-may-wiki.de/index.php/Briefkasten_(Schacht_und_Hütte)
4. ↑ http://karl-may-wiki.de/index.php/In_der_Heimath
5. ↑ http://karl-may-wiki.de/index.php/Allerlei_(Frohe_Stunden)
6. ↑ http://karl-may-wiki.de/index.php/Marie_Hannes
7. ↑ Quoted from Steinmetz / Sudhoff: Marie Hannes. Living in the Shadow of Light , p. 114.
8. ↑ Karl May: The prodigal son . In: Karl Mays Werke (digital library), p. 21609 f. (see KMW-II.16, p. 1437 f.).
9. ^ Karl May: German hearts, German heroes. In: Karl Mays Werke , pp. 27037-27039 (cf. KMW-II.22, pp. 1757 f.).

literature

• Heinz Neumann : "The Secrets of the Temple of Venus" by HG Münchmeyer . In: Releases the Karl May company (M-KMG) 23/ 1975 , pp 25-28; Facsimile of the title page and the table of contents including the bibliographical data, ibid., P. 26. ( online version )
• Gernot Kunze: "The Book of Love". Brief information about the planned reprint of this work . In: M-CMM 71/ 1987 , pp 47-49. ( Online version )
• Gernot Kunze: Introduction. In: The Book of Love. Volume II. Commentary Volume 1989.
• Hermann Wohlgschaft: Responses to "Book of Love" I . In: M-KMG 80/1989, pp. 48–51. ( Online version )
• Volker Griese : A note on the “Book of Love” . In: M-CMM 84/ 1990 , p 46. ( online version )
• Karl Serden: “Book of Love” reprint cannot go unchallenged. In: M-KMG 86/1990, p. 50. ( online version )
• Dieter Sudhoff : The Book of Love. In: Gert Ueding (Ed.): Karl-May-Handbuch. Verlag Königshausen & Neumann Würzburg 2001 , pp. 458-460. ISBN 3-8260-1813-3
• Peter Hofmann : Karl May and his gospel. Theological attempt on camouflage and hermeneutics , Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh 2016, esp.p. 26, 37, 60, 70, 73, 76 f., 82, 92, 122, 127, 140, 144, 148.

Web links

• Online version on the website of the Karl May Society .
• Online version at zeno.org .
• Entry in the Karl May Wiki
• Entry in the book database .
• Color illustrations from the "Temple of Venus" .
• Karl May and his Münchmeyer novels .