I think that this topic has become transmogrified

, but that is O.K.

Thanks for that link, Bill. It reminds me of a “clipping service”, a service that would provide cut-out articles, from newspapers and magazines, on subjects specified by subscribers. But this is free and much more convenient!
I note that several of the articles reference the current Karl May exhibit at the Deutsches Historisches Museum, which was mentioned in the rather negative and misleading New York Times article discussed elsewhere on this forum (and listed on the article compilation site). Belatedly, I thought I would take a look at the museum web-site and find out what images were available. I was pleasantly surprised to find that panoramic views of all sections of the exhibit are available to a “click of the mouse”:
(The views work in QuickTime, which may require some users to down-load a driver. The views take a little time to down-load. You can move the viewpoint over the panorama at will by pressing the left-hand mouse button and moving the target-shaped cursor over the picture.) This is quite impressive, although—alas—while the zoom function at the bottom left of the picture frame works very well, it lacks sufficient resolution to enable one to read the text on the wall placards, except in one case. There are some wonderful items on display, including of all things, a wooden portmanteau used by peddlers in the “kolportage” trade (the selling of various forms of literature, particularly “pulp fiction” in this case, by travelling salesmen). In panorama #6 “Nordamerika/Reiseerzählungen”, I found, by scrolling to the left, an absolutely beautiful painting of a sunrise over a wilderness. I wonder if any-one knows something about this painting? I suppose the exhibition catalogue would have details. It is available here—
—for €36.00.
While the exhibit is not intensive in terms of the number of items on display, it is visually attractive.
The question—of what it is about Karl May’s works that has made them popular for well over a hundred years—deserves its own discussion topic, though we have discussed some aspects of this on various threads. There is a fundamental beauty in his stories that is hard to assign to any single element. I have read your (Marlies) superb translations of ‘Old Surehand I & II’. This wonderful work has all that we expect in a Winnetou story, and more. Like ‘Weihnacht!’ (‘Holy Night!’—literally, ‘Christmas!’, and also translated by Marlies), this was a very powerful and deeply-felt work. And as we have discussed before, May bared his soul in works like these. ‘Old Surehand’ is vastly more than a rousing Old West adventure, though it is that, too. This deeper content is likely in great part responsible for the durability of May’s legacy, though his remarkable imagination, his extraordinarily moral sensibility, the high quality of his ideas and stories, and the care May devoted to accuracy—and to his work in general—are also factors.