Complete Winnetou Trilogy

Winnetou #1-3

by Karl May, Marlies Bugmann (translator)

Hard cover format of the combined works Winnetou I, II, and III, including coloured costume photo of 1896 on back of dust jacket, with 'magic' rifle overlayed - Karl May as Old Shatterhand

~~February 2013 revision~~ Complete Winnetou Trilogy. The adventures of Old Shatterhand, the young German adventurer, and Winnetou, the young Apache chief. During his first journey into the Wild West, a young greenhorn—Karl May, the adventurer—meets a young Apache, called Winnetou, while performing his job as a railroad surveyor in the Wild West. The first encounter is not at all amicable and during a violent Indian attack, the young German is near-fatally wounded. He is taken to the Apache pueblo to be nursed back to health, destined to die by torture at the stake…

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Classics, Adventure, Historical Fiction, German Literature, Childrens

787 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Karl Friedrich May (also Karol May) was one of the best selling German writers of all time, noted mainly for books set in the American Old West, (best known for the characters of Winnetou and Old Shatterhand) and similar books set in the Orient and Middle East. In addition, he wrote stories set in his native Germany, in China and in South America.

May also wrote poetry and several plays, as well as composing music; he was proficient with several musical instruments. May's musical version of "Ave Maria" became very well known.

Reviews

[Filip]

People don't write novels this way today and it shows. From modern perspective this book have a Mary Sue-ish protagonist and way too many, too convenient coincidences. Despite that, it all clicks and works in the book and I've enjoyed finally getting to know Winnetou and Old Shatterhand (even though in some volumes there wasn't that much of the eponymous Indian chief). It also clearly shows that the book was written as a serial in newspapers/magazines with some chapters being completely separate story arcs. In some ways it was also surprising inconsistent, with Old Shatterhand being an uber-badass in volume I and an absolute greenhorn in volume II.

The action was gripping and while I know that the author made up a LOT about the lives of Natives, it is written very, very convincingly and I am not surprised that readers bought it. There are some racist parts but that's on par for the times the book was written in and to be honest it really seems fair - or even progressive - for its day. The main protagonist seems a bit bland but the secondary characters - especially Sam Hawkens and Old Death - more than make up for it.

Maybe, like an Apache on the war path, one day I'll hunt down the various sequels, prequels, interquels and spin-offs the author wrote and read them.

[Markus]

End of Book II - I intend to post a review at the end of book III -

[Irinel Finco]

As a child I was so in love with Winnetou, that I decided to grow my hair long and marry an apache indian.

[Sven]

"Er, der beste, treueste und opferwilligste aller meiner Freude, war ein echter Vertretet der Rasse, der er entstammte, und ganz so, wie sie untergeht, ist auch er untergegangen, ausgelöscht aus dem Leben durch die mörderische Kugel eines Feindes. Ich habe ihn geliebt wie keinen zweiten Menschen und liebe noch heute das sterbende Volk, dessen edelster Sohn er war. Mein Leben hätte ich hingegeben, um ihm das seine zu erhalten, so wie er hundertmal für mich das gleiche wagte. Das war mir nicht vergönnt. Er ist dahingegangen, indem er, wie immer, ein Retter seiner Freunde war. Aber er soll nur körperlich gestorben sein und hier in diesen Blättern fortleben, wie er in meiner Seele lebt, er, W i n n e t o u , d e r g r o ß e H ä u p t l i n g d e r A p a t s c h e n."

Es grenzt schon an ein Wunder, das ich bis heute diesen großartigen Roman nicht gelesen hatte. Wer Winnetou gerademal aus der "Schuh des Manitu" kennt, der wird überrascht sein, wie weit diese Parodie vom Ursprungsmaterial entfernt ist.

Winnetou ist ein Abenteuerroman, eine Actiongeschichte. Alles dreht sich um den Kampf, um Kriegsführung, um Taktiken und Listen.

Offensichtlich war das literarische Ich des Erzählers von seinem Autor Karl May von Anfang an nicht zu trennen. Er, der sich den Namen Old Shatterhand verdient, und der von Winnetou später liebevoll Scharlih genannt wird, könnte man heute mit gutem Recht als 'Mary Sue' bezeichnen: Eine junge Figur, die im Zentrum der Geschichte steht und die alles besser kann als alle anderen. Der Umstand, dass dies hier gut funktioniert, liegt darin begründet, dass die Figuren um ihn herum allesamt großartig gezeichnet sind und man beim Lesen immer wissen möchte, wie es nun weiter geht.

[Adam]

Ukochana ksiazka z dziecinstwa srednio broni sie po latach. Ale polknalem na plazy z przyjemnoscia, bo łezka wzruszenia leciala po policzku

[Mirel Bene]

Winnetou is a story about an unlikely friendship between a greenhorn, a newbie who just came to the Wild West and Winnetou, a young chieftain of the Apache tribe. The adventures that they have together throughout the book make it memorable and keep it as one of my all-time favourites.
Check out my full review: https://mirisbookcorner.wordpress.com...

[Goran]

The best old west book. I took some other books about the adventures of two main characters from the town library also.
The story of a true friendship and heroes of their people, evolution of human mind, it's maturing and thinking outside of the box not only old fashion and non flexible.

[Leah]

This is the first series that legitimately made me cry, especially at the end.
When Winnetou died, it shattered my heart especially because I couldn't believe it at first, I couldn't believe that Old Shatterhand and Winnetou team had been torn apart

[Richard]

Eine schoene Deutsche Geschichte

Drei Baende und ja es gab viel das Zufaelig war, ja dann unvahrscheinlich ... aber es ist immer nich eine schoene Geschichte. Man hat einen richtigen Eindruck dass man mit dem Indianer ein Mitgefuehl hat.

[Andrzej Kaczmarczyk]

Love of my youth

[1]

This isn't just my favourite genre.

[Angelica]

Favourite trilogy. Re-read it and not regretted a thing.

[Johnny Firic]

Fabulous juvenile Western classic, inexplicably unknown in the Anglosphere.

[Ralph-Peter Hendriks]

I used to love this growing up. Now I find the main character annoying, too good, too clever. This is also terrible translation. Not sure how it got passed the editors.

[Jakub]

Przepiękna seria książek, rzadko kiedy tak zżyłem się z bohaterami.

[Lucie Lierse]

Ergreifend, schön und ALLE Emotionen sind dabei. Verbrüderung und Verrat. Gewinne und Verluste. Tolle Freundschaften.

[Uwe]

Ich habe dieses Buch wahrscheinlich zum fünften Mal gelesen. Es macht immer Spaß. Ich werde jedoch als nächstes „Der Schut“ noch einmal lesen anstatt Winnetou II. Gefiel mir besser in meiner Jugend.

[PottWab Regional Library]

SM

[Robert Jackson]

Juvenile classic, flawed in many ways, but wonderful to read when you're of a certain age.

[Monika]

Happy to finaly know this story but I did not have as much fun as I thought I was gonna have🤷

Thought I have to say it's a lot more gay than I expected 🤣🏳️‍🌈

[Tessa]

*3,5 Sterne

Geht zum Teufel und meinetwegen auch noch weiter!
Unerwarteterweise hatte ich unglaublich viel Spaß mit diesem Buch. Ich erwartete eine geradezu trockene Geschichte über Indianer, jedoch hat Karl May sogar auch Humor bewiesen.
Ich fand seinen Schreibstil toll und hatte sofort Bilder der Prärie und der Dörfer in meinem Kopf.
Noch nie sah ich irgendeinen Winnetou Film, und wusste von daher auch nicht, worum es genau geht. Old Shatterhand und Winnetou - ja. Aber alles drumherum?
Ich habe es wirklich genossen, die Geschichte der beiden kennenzulernen.

Das einzige, das ich zu bemängeln habe, sind die unglaublich langen Kapitel und der Rassismus und Sexismus, der zu seiner Zeit zwar nicht problematisch war, ich heute jedoch sehr unangenehm zu lesen fand. Manchmal empfand ich es zudem als zu großen Zufall, dass Old Shatterhand in allem so unglaublich toll war.

Dennoch freue ich mich schon, Teil 2 und 3 zu lesen und hoffe, die Spannung bleibt erhalten.

[Steve Mccann]

Interesting to read something by an author so far removed from his subject. Karl May had never been to the American West, but he did all right for 19th-Century German. While he was progressive for his time, he still portrays the Indians with a condescension that at times is cringe-worthy.

[Flavia]

a really good book with loads of actions and fights, also the writer really did a great job describing the characters and their friendship between Winnetou and Old Shatterhand. really amazing, that's all I can say..

[Szymon Adamczuk]

Guns, Indians, hunting, pursues, bisons, Great Spirit, white-faces. In one word - adventure. All the good stuff.

[Maike]

Amusing, entertaining, [racist] gay trash. kinda like glee :)

[Sese]

No words; just legendary