Name	May, Karl
Alternative Names
ID	8842
Gender	male
Lifespan	1842-02-25 - 1912-03-30
Professions	writer (Q36180)

Collection(s)	Polarization in the North Atlantic Triangle
Uri(s)	https://ica.acdh-dev.oeaw.ac.at/entity/8842/
Notes	Karl May invented himself as a world traveler who writes about adventures and places he had never visited, his most well-known persona probably being Old Shatterhand. The 1860s and 1870s of his novels imagine a wilderness that was very unlike the actual American life at that time. As part of a widespread anti-American sentiment at the time, the characters in the novels try to fight against modernity and for a more traditional way of life.
References	Kriegleder, Wynfrid. "Looking for a Scapegoat. Germanophone Novelists of the 19th and 20th Century Depicting a Polarized America." Polarization in the North Atlantic Triangle. Vienna: Verlag der ÖAW, 2023.