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PART 2 of an interview with translator David Koblick about his English translation of Karl May's Winnetou I

Did you make any adjustments for some of Karl May's inaccuracies, or leave everything as in the original German? Did you make any other adjustments for an English-language audience?

Adjustments, yes! When they didn't detract from the content or continuity, I made several corrections to May's ethnic, historical and geographical inaccuracies. I also abridged it, omitting May's long and often boring expositions, descriptions and philosophical ruminations. It was mine, I could do what I wanted with it, so I tried to make it interesting for a present-day readership. But I omitted nothing vital to the story. You know, the Kiowa tribe, Karl May's sworn enemies of the Apaches, are actually an Apache tribal offshoot, and have never been enemies. But I didn't change that, for it would have meant rewriting the book completely. As you see, I did some research.

Was your research an enjoyable part of your translation work for you? What were some of the interesting contrasts (besides the Kiowa) with the Karl May version that you discovered?

Well, I acquired, besides the comprehensive library of reference books I already had, Harold Driver's Indians of North America and Josephy's The Indian Heritage of America. I already had James Warner Bellah's The Apache. But I really wasn't trying to make Karl May's novel authentic. As I mentioned before, I corrected a few of the blatant errors (the Red River flowing in the wrong direction, etc.), but left most of the book just the way it was written; I only made changes, mostly in style, that would make the book more interesting and appealing to a modern readership. Sure, there were other factual errors, but I ignored them. And I didn't know nor care whether Sam Hawkens's knowledge of buffalo-hunting, wild-horse customs, etc., was authentic or not. It was interesting, and I left it in as it was.

Did you use any computer software help, or did you just translate the old-fashioned way? Any help from your Austrian wife?

No, I'm completely opposed to computer-aided translation. I did it the old-fashioned way. No, Berta may have given me minor advice about a few idiomatic terms, but I did the translating all by myself.

Were there any particular elements of Karl May's Winnetou tale that especially appealed to you as a translator?

The most enjoyable part was Shatterhand's recovery from his near-death experience after being stabbed through the jaw by Winnetou, and how he fooled the Apaches into thinking he'd drowned, and became Winnetou's “brother.” When I give readings, which I've done (and will do again next month) at bookstores, clubs and schools, I read that excerpt, which is just as exciting to me every time, and to the audience, mostly intermediate or advanced students of English.

How do your young Austrian listeners react to hearing Karl May in English? Do they still read him the way their parents once did?

I think that most of those who attend my readings are more interested in hearing English read than they are in hearing Karl May read. And corollary to that, I believe that there are fewer die-hard Karl May fans as time goes on. Seems to me that every German speaker who was a teen-ager in the 50s and 60s had read some Karl May novels, but nowadays that's no longer true. Can it be that movies and the easy availability of a wide variety of television entertainment is gradually pushing Karl May deeper into obsolescence? You tell me.

Speaking of movies, have you seen Der Schuh des Manitu? What did you think about this film as Karl-May-Western parody? Why do you think the movie was such a big hit?

Yes, we saw Der Schuh des Manitu — purely by accident. My wife and I thought we were going to see Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou but we entered the wrong cinema auditorium. Some funny parts, but we weren't particularly impressed. Can't imagine why it's become such a big hit.

Tell me more about the way you approach a translation, particularly for Winnetou. What steps or processes do you go through?

First, I keep my two-volume set of Langenscheidts Encyclopaedisches (Deutsch-Englisch) Wörterbuch handy for all translations. As German is not my mother tongue, I double check words, expressions and idioms I'm not positive about. I also rely to a great extent on Roget's Thesaurus, the 10th edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and The Chicago Manual of Style. When I've finished, I go over the entire manuscript for typographical errors (not misspellings, I'm a perfect speller) and make a few editing word-changes and/or word or phrase transpositions. But in the particular case of Winnetou, I took liberties which I don't take with other translations, which I try to make as true to the original as possible.

Some say May's Winnetou was influenced by James Fenimore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans and other American Indian tales written in that time period. Did you make any comparisons for Winnetou, or was that not a factor at all?

No, I didn't make any comparisons with other literature about Indians, not J. F. Cooper's nor any others. To repeat, I wasn't trying for authenticity. I was just attempting to translate, and only slightly alter, an adventure story in a manner which modern readers (especially Western fans!) would enjoy reading. In doing so, I made no radical changes; they weren't needed. Karl May's writing is exciting, thrilling, interesting; it stands on its own merits.

Purists, especially ardent Karl May fans, complain about abridgements or any changes in translations of his works. You obviously don't agree. What do you say to such criticism?

Well, I've gotten a few criticisms of that sort, but the critics are uninformed and/or ignorant of the fact that thousands, literally thousands, of changes have been made over the years to new editions of Karl May's works. Many of those critics believe that Karl May's words should remain forever in the pristine state in which they were written. Which pristine state? I'll bet I'm one of the few living people who's ever read Karl May's ORIGINAL Winnetou. Critics don't realize that the Karl-May-Verlag, among others who have published Karl May in German, make small (but cumulative) changes with every new printing in order to obtain a new copyright date, which extends the rights period. And other publishers have gone to court (and won!) for the right to copyright some Karl May works in their own name. That covers my changes. As far as abridgements, I've already told you what kind I made and why I made them. A wortwörtlich [literal, word-for-word] translation from the original would be more boring than interesting to a modern readership. So I say to those ignorant critics, “KMA!”

How long did it actually take you to do the Winnetou translation? Were you working on other projects as well?

I worked on it intermittently over a period of about four or five months. I wasn't under pressure, so I could do other things, read, watch TV, go to movies and art openings. I was already on pension and living in Austria, and doing other (paid!) translations.

You don't approve of computer translation software, but you do use a computer for your work, don't you?

The first book (the von Däniken bio) was done on an electric typewriter. Whew, was that a job, editing was an ordeal. All the others—I've made five published book translations—were done with a computer word-processing program, Wordstar at first, then the various MS Word versions.

What project are you currently working on?

I'm now just finishing (last chapter!) a biography of Werner Lange's biography of Hans Paasche, a most interesting German dissident (1881-1930). Look him up on Google. He was famous in his time, but now unknown. I'm doing it on contract for his American granddaughter, and will be looking for a publisher shortly. A fascinating though short life (assassinated!).

Thank you for this interview.

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Interview 1: Karl May Translators
An interview with Michael Michalak, the translator of Karl May's adventure novel Durch die Wüste. How did the only modern, unabridged English translation of a May book end up with the title In the Shadow of the Padishah?

Karl May Links
Links to Winnetou and Karl May. From your Guide.

Erich von Daeniken.com
The official von Däniken Web site.