My life and pursuit
My Life and Aspirations , the autobiography of Karl May , was published in December 1910 by Verlag Friedrich Ernst Fehsenfeld .
content
My life and pursuit 1
- I. The fairy tale of Sitara. ( Digitized version )
- II. My childhood. ( Digitized version )
- III. No youth. ( Digitized version )
- IV. Seminar and teacher time. ( Digitized version )
- V. In the abyss. ( Digitized version )
- VI. At the colportage. ( Digitized version )
- VII. My works. ( Digitized version )
- VIII. My processes. ( Digitized version )
- IX. Enough. ( Digitized version )
Volume 2 was never published.
Work history
First edition
In 1910 May was involved in a myriad of lawsuits in which his opponents were not squeamish about him. His biography was therefore not a contemplative review of his life, but rather belongs to the series of defense documents that were intended to convince lawyers, courts and readers of his reputation.
- That's why I didn't write the book in such a way that it would bring me back the reading pleps, but in such a way that it would help me win the litigation. It has only this one purpose, no more, in spite of the high biographical and psychological value it possesses. (Karl May to Friedrich Ernst Fehsenfeld, November 14, 1910)
Since he also lectured in the last two chapters of his (named) opponents in the writing, the autobiography was withdrawn from circulation by an injunction (initiated by Rudolf Lebius ).
Second edition
In December 1911, Friedrich Ernst Fehsenfeld tried to persuade May to revise the autobiography. May agreed in principle, but never got around to it.
So in July 1912, Klara May , his widow, published the revised version herself as editor. In this second edition, fifty pages were deleted in the last section, but some changes were also made in the front section. At the same time, three art prints (May portrait by Erwin Raupp , tomb and the relief group in the mausoleum) were included.
Klara May tried to use the editor's comments to smooth out fractions and insert explanations. Not least because of these new comments, Oskar Gerlach obtained another injunction at the beginning of September 1912. On December 17th, however, his lawsuit to ban writing was rejected by the Dresden Regional Court .
third edition
In 1914 the third edition of the autobiography appeared in the newly established publishing house of the Karl May Foundation . This time the Euchar signed Albrecht Schmid as editor.
Later editions
Since 1917 the text has been included in Volume 34 of the Collected Works under the title “I” .
Book editions
- Current issues in the book database.
title
Originally May wanted to name his autobiography Am Marterpfahl und Pillar , then decided on The Karl May Problem - by Karl May or Karl May by Karl May and ultimately for My Life and Striving .
On May 9, 1910, Egon Erwin Kisch conducted an interview with Karl May, which was published in Bohemia on May 13 . In it Karl May stated:
- "I am now writing a book in which I do not deny anything and describe my prison sentences." - "May one know what the book will be called?" - "The title is: 'On the stake and pillory'."
He wrote to Felix Krais on May 13, 1910:
- Dear Mr. Kommerzienrath!
- Mr. Fehsenfeld will have sent you the beginning of “On the Stake and Pillory”.
Others
In Chapter 8, May wrote to the 4th criminal chamber of the Royal. Regional Court III incorporated in Berlin .
Anton Haider made a careful comparative reading between the first and second editions of Mein Leben und Streben in 1955; by Ludwig Patsch published in Karl May circular no. 143 of May 14, 1957.
Remarks
- ↑ The Cut Diamond , p. 75.
- ^ Karl May: Correspondence with Friedrich Ernst Fehsenfeld. Second volume: 1907 - 1912. With letters from and to Felix Krais et al . Ed. Dieter Sudhoff and Hans-Dieter Steinmetz . Karl May's Collected Works and Letters; Vol. 92. Karl-May-Verlag, Bamberg and Radebeul 2008, p. 266
- ↑ http://www.karl-may-wiki.de/index.php/An_die_4._Strafkammer_des_Königl._Landgerichts_III_in_Berlin
literature
- "I" - epilogue of the KMV
- Siegfried Augustin : Foreword: Karl May and his autobiographical writings , in: Karl May: My life and striving. Autobiographical writings (special volume of Edition Karl May Klassiker in illustrated editions, edited by Siegfried Augustin and Heinrich Pleticha ), Augsburg: Verlagsgruppe Weltbild n.d., pp. 7–15.
- Lothar and Bernhard Schmid (eds.): The cut diamond. The collected works of Karl May , Bamberg / Radebeul: Karl-May-Verlag 2003.
- Ekkehard Bartsch: On the second version of Karl May's autobiography . In: Yearbook of the Karl May Society 1976 ( online version )
- Helmut Schmiedt : Karl May's “My Life and Striving” as a poetic work . In: JbKMG 1985 ( online version )
- Hermann Wohlgschaft : May's cab parable and the Enneagram or the birth of God in the human soul . In: JbKMG 1999 ( online version )
- Hans Wollschläger : My life and striving. In: Gert Ueding (Ed.): Karl-May-Handbuch. Verlag Königshausen & Neumann Würzburg 2001, pp. 453–457. ISBN 3-8260-1813-3
- Dieter Sudhoff / Hans-Dieter Steinmetz : Karl May Chronicle I to V . Special volumes on the collected works. Karl-May-Verlag Bamberg-Radebeul 2005/2006. ISBN 978-3-7802-0170-6
- Dieter Sudhoff / Hans-Dieter Steinmetz (eds.): Correspondence with Friedrich Ernst Fehsenfeld (1907–1912) , KMV, 2008
Web links
- The original text online on the Karl May Society website .
- Digitized version of the first edition online on the Karl May Society website .