Kara Ben Nemsi
Kara Ben Nemsi (in Arabic: كارة بن نمسي Karl The [Son of] Austrian, meant was Karl the son of Germans) is a fictional character in the works of Karl May, best-selling 19th century German writer. An alter ego of the author, everything is written from the first person perspective. He travels throughout the Ottoman empire, alongside his friend and servant Hadschi Halef Omar.
His character, being identical to that of Old Shatterhand, owns two famous rifles, the Bärentöter (Bear Killer) and the Henrystutzen (Henry Carbine). Without ever leaving the saddle of his fabulous black horse Rih (it means “wind” in Arabic), Kara Ben Nemsi single-handedly fights off droves of thieves and crooks left and right. On nightlong rides through bleak and barren lands, he never wavered in sharing his long-winded religious musings with unenlightened natives and readers alike.
Original German stories
- Durch Wüste und Harem (1892), since 1895 with the title Durch die Wüste
- Durchs wilde Kurdistan (1892)
- Von Bagdad nach Stambul (1892)
- In den Schluchten des Balkan (1892)
- Durch das Land der Skipetaren (1892)
- Der Schut (1892)
- Orangen und Datteln (1893, Anthology: Die Gum, Der Krumir and others)
- Eine Befreiung (within Die Rose von Kaïrwan, 1894)
- Im Lande des Mahdi I (1896)
- Im Lande des Mahdi II (1896)
- Im Lande des Mahdi III (1896)
- Satan und Ischariot II (1897)
- Er Raml el Helahk (within Auf fremden Pfaden, 1897)
- Blutrache (within Auf fremden Pfaden, 1897)
- Der Kutb (within Auf fremden Pfaden, 1897)
- Der Kys-Kaptschiji (within Auf fremden Pfaden, 1897)
- Maria oder Fatima (within Auf fremden Pfaden, 1897)
- Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen I (1898)
- Die »Umm ed Dschamahl« (1898)
- Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen II (1898)
- Am Jenseits (1899)
- Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen III (1902)
- Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen IV (1903)
- Bei den Aussätzigen (1907)
- Abdahn Effendi (1908)
- Merhameh (1909)
- Ardistan und Dschinnistan I (1909)
- Ardistan und Dschinnistan II (1909)
In the story An der Tigerbrücke (within Am Stillen Ocean, 1894) the first-person narrator mentions, that he is identical to Kara Ben Nemsi and Old Shatterhand.
Within the book series Karl May’s Gesammelte Werke there is a sequel of Am Jenseits: „In Mekka“ (1923) by Franz Kandolf.
English translations of Karl May's works
- Amazon.com (Karl May's works translated by Marlies Bugmann)
- Nemsi Books (Publisher of new unabridged translations)
See also
References
- Essay about Kara Ben Nemsi (in German)