Marah Durimeh is a fictional character from

Karl May Karl Friedrich May ( , ; 25 February 1842 – 30 March 1912) was a German author. He is best known for his 19th century novels of fictitious travels and adventures, set in the American Old West with Winnetou and Old Shatterhand as main pro ...

's novels around

Kara Ben Nemsi Kara Ben Nemsi is a fictional main character from the works of Karl May, best-selling 19th century German author. An alter ego of May, the stories about Nemsi are written as first-person narratives. He travels across North Africa, Sudan, and the O ...

. Her real identity is Ruh'i Kulyan (''ghost of the cave''). She is known as Es Sahira (''the magician'') to Kurds. Durimeh is a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

princess and widow of a famous king. She is said to have written several books. Karl May intended to write several novels about her, similar to the Winnetou series, but he never got to it. The character changed from the wild and ugly creature of early publications to what he understood as the female

Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the c ...

counterpart to the

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

chief

Winnetou Winnetou is a fictional Native American hero of several novels written in German by Karl May (1842–1912), one of the best-selling German writers of all time with about 200 million copies worldwide, including the ''Winnetou'' trilogy. The cha ...

, both personifying

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

and the ascent ''from a low, lustful person, rising to become a nobly spirited person''. Several times it is referred to her as the ''soul of mankind''. He states in his autobiography that he modelled the character after his own grandmother, with whom he was very close and who raised him in his early childhood, especially during his blindness.

Original German stories

* ''Durchs wilde Kurdistan'' (1892) * ''Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen'' II (1898) * ''Babel und Bibel - Arabische Fantasia in zwei Akten'' (1906,

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

) * ''Ardistan und Dschinnistan I'' (1909) * ''Ardistan und Dschinnistan II'' (1909) There are many references to her: * ''Von Bagdad nach Stambul'' (1892) * ''Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen III'' (1902) * ''Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen IV'' (1903) * ''Und Friede auf Erden!'' (1904) * ''Winnetou IV'' (1910)

Durimeh's role in the novels

She is aunt of Abd el Fadl, great aunt of Pedehr, great grandmother of Shakira and a friend of Ustad. Ahriman Mirza thinks of her as his principal opponent.

meets these persons many times and also encounters her often. Durimeh and he have long discussions about religion. More than hundred years of age, she has still retained her power and she is highly regarded by everyone. She ends violent fights between different ethnic groups.

Movies with "Mara Durimeh"

* 1920 " Auf den Trümmern des Paradieses", silent movie believed to be lost. * 1965 "Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen
imdb.com
One of the German

Karl May movies Karl May film adaptations are films based on stories and characters by German author Karl May (1842–1912). The characters Old Shatterhand, Winnetou, and Kara Ben Nemsi are very famous in Central Europe. In most of the film versions the novels we ...

of the 1960s with the American actor

Lex Barker Alexander Crichlow Barker Jr. (May 8, 1919 – May 11, 1973), known as Lex Barker, was an American actor. He was known for playing Tarzan for RKO Pictures between 1949 and 1953, and portraying leading characters from Karl May's novels, notably as ...

External links

Article in the encyclopedia of Karl May figures
(German)
English translations of Karl May's works by Nemsi BooksEnglish translations of Karl May's works by Marlies Bugmann

References

# {{note, auto
My Life and My Efforts, Autobiography by Karl May (1842-1912)
- What Marah Durimeh meant for him (.txt)

(German) Characters in German novels of the 19th century Characters in German novels of the 20th century Fictional Kurdish people Fictional princesses Durimeh, Marah de:Figuren aus den Romanen von Karl May#Marah Durimeh