My Life and My Efforts | Page 8

to him, but only those pages of the lost chapter which had been ignored in their entirety, as well as most of the last third of the novel, had survived. But still, in spite of all this, he did not completely restore the novel for the edition published by Fehsenfeld. Instead, on about six printed pages, he only gives a summary of the lost chapter, which otherwise would have covered approximately 200 pages. After Keiter's promise that this would never happen again, Karl May writes the beginning of "Im Reiche des silbernen Loewen" for the magazine, but discontinues his work on account of a new controversy. For the next ten years, Karl May publishes no further novels in this magazine. Karl May and his wife travel through a large part of Germany, Austria, and Bohemia. Volume 23 of the "collected traveller's tales" presents a collection of earlier short stories, and volume 24 contains a new novel, called "Weihnacht!" .
1898: On August the 30th, Heinrich Keiter dies. "Im Reiche des silbernen Loewen" is published as volumes 26 and 27 of the "traveller's tales" with an additional chapter, not published before.
1899: "Am Jenseits" is published as Karl May's 25th volume for Fehsenfeld. On March the 26th, Karl May embarks on his big trip to the Orient. In Egypt, the news of the planned illegal printing by Adalbert Fischer of his earlier novels reaches him. He protests and threatens to sue. Furthermore, he has to find out that a smear campaign has been started in several German newspapers against him and his work, while he has been travelling abroad.
1900: May is joined on his journey by his wife Emma, his friend Richard Ploehn, and his wife Klara. He returns home on July the 31th. Karl May publishes a book of poetry, entitled "Himmelsgedanken" .
1901: On February the 14th, Karl May's friend Richard Ploehn dies. May writes his pacifist novel "Et in terra pax", but has to interrupt it, since it violates the not so peaceful intentions of the publisher Joseph Kuerschner. The illegal publication of his earlier novels starts, causing those lawsuits, which were to drag on until long after Karl May's death.
1902: Karl May publishes a third volume of "Im Reiche des silbernen Loewen" as the 28th volume of his "traveller's tales", but this is no longer a plain adventure novel like the first two volumes, but rather an allegorical novel with many hidden, autobiographical references. On September the 10th, Karl May files for divorce.
1903: On March the 4th, the divorce is final. On March the 30th, he marries Klara, the widow of Richard Ploehn. The fourth volume of "Im Reiche des silbernen Loewen" is published as the 29th volume of the "traveller's tales".
1904: The lawsuits against Rudolf Lebius start. The painter Sascha Schneider, a close personal friend of Karl May, creates new cover illustrations for his novels, which reflect the metaphorical interpretation which Karl May now gives to all of his work. Karl May completes "Et in terra pax" and publishes it as volume 30 of his "collected traveller's tales" under the German title "Und Friede auf Erden" , upon a suggestion by his publisher.
1905: Karl May meets Bertha von Suttner, who won the Nobel Peace Prize that year.
1906: Karl May publishes his drama "Babel und Bibel". It is generally rejected by the critics and has, to my knowledge, never been performed on stage.
1907: On January the 9th, Karl May wins his lawsuit against Adalbert Fischer and Pauline Muenchmeyer. On April the 7th, Adalbert Fischer dies. Karl May reconciles his differences with the "Hausschatz" magazine and publishes in it his novel "Der Mir von Dschinnistan".
1908: On September the 5th, Karl and Klara May embark on their journey to America. They visit New York, Albany, Buffalo, and the Niagara Falls. In Lawrence, Massachusetts, Karl May meets his old friend Pfefferkorn, who had emigrated to America. On October the 18th, he makes a speech on mankind's big questions: "Who are we? Where do we come from? Where do we go to?" Probably in early November, he returns home, to depart again for London by the end of this month, spending about one week in England. In early December, Karl May and his wife return home.
1909: The magazine's publication of "Der Mir von Dschinnistan" ends. Under the new title "Ardistan und Dschinnistan", this novel becomes volumes 31 and 32 of his "collected traveller's tales". Karl May adds an fourth volume to his Winnetou trilogy, written in his new, allegorical style. It is published in an supplement to a newspaper called "Augsburger Volkszeitung".
1910: The fourth volume of Winnetou is included into his "traveller's tales" as its 33rd and last volume. Karl May publishes his autobiography.
1911: Karl May's health is getting