Dances with wolves (novel)

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Dances with Wolves is a Western -novel the US writer Michael Blake , the first time in 1988 under the English title Dances With Wolves appeared. It was made into a film of the same name by Kevin Costner in 1990 . The screen adaptation has received numerous awards, including seven Oscars .

action

The novel is set at the time of the Civil War and is about the US Army officer John Dunbar, who can be transferred to a post in Indian territory to get to know the West before it no longer exists. He comes into contact with a Comanche tribe and builds a friendship with them. He becomes a member of the tribe with his marriage to a white woman who was raised by the Comanches after the death of her parents.

Themes and motifs

Blake wrote the novel out of motivation to show what "we have lost by trampling the great horse culture and its people." He thus refers to the fight against and extensive extermination of the North American Indians by white settlers. Blake wanted the novel to tell the story as he sees it: “Here people lived in simple perfection, in harmony with heaven, earth and prairie; strong families lived in communities that valued and cared for their members. ”By pointing out what was lost, Blake said, respect for the descendants of the Indians who are now living and locked up on reservations can be regained.

publication

The publisher Fawcett Books published the book in 1988 with a first edition of 30,000 copies. Kevin Costner had previously secured the rights to film it. Costner convinced Blake to adapt the novel as a script.

When it was first published, the novel was not yet particularly successful. Success only came through the filming. As a result, the novel was number one in the paperback category of the New York Times bestseller list for at least eleven weeks . At least 3.5 million copies were sold by 2015. According to various mentions, it was translated into 15 and 22 languages ​​respectively.

continuation

Under the title The Holy Road (German: The Dance of the Warrior ) Blake published a continuation of the novel Dances with the Wolf . It takes place a few years later, in 1874.

expenditure

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kevin Costner, Michael Blake, Jim Wilson: Dances with wolves. The illustrated story of the great film. Bastei Lübbe , Bergisch Gladbach 1991, ISBN 3-404-71203-X , foreword by Michael Blake (page unnumbered)
  2. ^ Dances With Wolves - History , AFI Catalog of Feature Films, American Film Institute website , accessed August 5, 2018
  3. ↑ Michael Blake dies; writer won Oscar for 'Dances With Wolves' , In: The Washington Post on May 5, 2015, accessed Oct. 13, 2018
  4. ↑ Meredith Berkman: “Dances With Wolves”: From novel to film , in: Entertainment Weekly, March 8, 1991, accessed October 13, 2018
  5. ↑ a b US writer Michael Blake died at the age of 69 , in: T-Online .de from May 4, 2015, accessed on October 13, 2018
  6. ↑ Bruce Weber: Michael Blake, 69, Writer, Dies; Won Oscar for 'Dances With Wolves' , in: The New York Times, May 4, 2015, accessed October 13, 2018