Lassiter (novel booklet series)
Lassiter is a western novel series from Bastei-Verlag , which has been published since 1972 in the form of booklets , sometimes also in paperback . The novels belong to the trivial literature . A digital edition of the series has been published by Bastei Lübbe Verlag since 2014.
content
The title character first appears as a gunslinger who is hired for dangerous jobs or who fights on his own initiative, e.g. B. out of the classic motive for revenge. In doing so, he often comes into conflict with the law or creates powerful enemies who persecute him over a long period of time, such as Sidney Blood, a special agent of the (historical) company Wells Fargo . Nevertheless, he is guided by ethical values, such as fairness towards the opponent or a certain respect for the culture of the North American Indians.
Since volume 397 "Lassiter and the Rebel Horde" , however, a fundamental change has taken place, and from then on Lassiter works on behalf of the government as an agent of the (fictitious) Brigade Seven . This organization was created as the Wild West version of today's US Federal Police FBI and the secret service CIA . At this point, at the latest, the hero is finally transformed into a " James Bond of the 19th century" because he not only fights, but is also a great womanizer. In every novel he has at least one, and often several, affairs.
Lassiter's adventures stretch across the entire “ Wild West ”, both in the United States and in northern Mexico, and over a period from around 1876 to at least 1911. This is how the American Civil War (Civil War ) and the Battle of Little Big Horn always mentioned in the past tense. Last year, the (historic) Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz was overthrown, and the authors let Lassiter play a role in it.
In general, the series indulges in historical events of that era, politics as well as technology play a role as a background or keyword. While z. B. in other westerns the Colt company seems to be the only revolver manufacturer in the world and Winchester is the only rifle manufacturer, weapons from Remington and Parker (the "sawed off Parker gun", ie a double-barreled shotgun), come from Lassiter and his teammates Lassiter's favorite weapon for a long time), French Chassepot carbines , etc. were used.
Protection of minors
In 1978, Lassiter was targeted by the BPjS . Volume 57 LASSITER in the white hell (2nd edition) was indexed.
“… The contents of No. 57 LASSITER in the white hell are brutal. ... The author is not satisfied with describing scenes of punching and shooting, but paints scenes of violence that are sadistic and those in which dynamite charges are made to explode to destroy the opponent. For example, on page 7 ff of volume 57, a particularly sadistic type of torture of a person is described ... Volume 57 had to be indexed simply because of these descriptions. They are not typical of the Wild West. Imitation and identification, especially with unstable adolescents who may be prone to overcompensation, is possible ... "
Volumes 301 Drei Killer gegen LASSITER , 303 LASSITER’s Night with Maribel and 314 LASSITER’s Oath of Vengeance were not indexed because the volumes were viewed as “typical Wild West literature”. This avoided permanent indexing of the series. In terms of content, however, the decision had consequences, especially since the paperbacks 42092 Eine Wolfsbraut for LASSITER , 42101 LASSITER and the witch with the star and 42105 The bait was called Belinda , albeit for different reasons, were indexed.
“The reason for the indexing here was, on the one hand, the connection between sexuality and violence and also the image of women, which is presented through the way LASSITER identifies with his love affairs. Women are portrayed in the novels as readily available sexual objects. "
The advisory board for literary protection of minors at BASTEI - Verlag Gustav H. Lübbe recommended changes to the content as a result, which were also implemented. Lassiter no longer fought on his own initiative out of revenge, the recurring arguments with Wells Fargo had to take a back seat and were hardly discussed, which in the opinion of the advisory board would "inevitably have positive effects on the protagonist's attitude and actions" because the "decisive motive." for legally unsustainable violence ”was gone. Lassiter became a member of a mysterious, but state-commissioned Brigade Seven , which was also reflected in the subtitle of the series. It should also be ensured that "the criminals are clearly portrayed in their illegality and their negative character", and it should be made clearer that "other people suffer from the crimes and that the most important task of the brigadists is the people of to free this suffering. "In addition, sexuality should be discussed less" and appear in variants that are also acceptable for young people, such as in the description of real relationships in which the feelings of the partners for each other are in the foreground and sex details are only allowed to play a subordinate role. "
The suggestions were implemented by the editorial team, and as a result the series and the publisher were no longer targeted by the protection of minors. In April 2004, all four novels were deleted from the list of media harmful to minors , in accordance with Section 18 (7) JuSchG .
Authors
The Lassiter series of novels is originally based on an American model, so some early volumes were translated from English and edited. The first titles were written by Willis Todhunter Ballard under the pseudonym Jack Slade . Most of the titles come from the pens of a large number of mostly anonymous German authors.
Günther Bajog was part of this team, and at least part of the conception of Lassiter's character is due to him. He wrote about 500 novels in the series. For the German editions, the name Jack Slade was retained as the publisher's pseudonym. The 2000th issue was published in November 2010, and more than 200 paperback books were published. Three editions of the novel booklets appeared at the same time. The first and third editions (over 1000 volumes) are currently being published. The second edition and the paperback edition were discontinued. With a total circulation of around 200 million copies, Lassiter is the most commercially successful Western novel series in the German-speaking world.
Web links
- Hartmut Kasper: The toughest man on the German novel market , Deutschlandfunk, November 16, 2010
- Bastei-Lübbe: Lassiter as e-books
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.bastei.de/beitrag/standardbeitrag_16743.html
- ↑ Decision No. 2739 of January 11, 1979
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from June 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
