The novel was a great commercial success. Frenschkowski describes the Golem as both "a deep-footed initiatory tale and an It is left to the reader to decide whether Pernath is simply writing down his hallucinations or gradually becoming a real golem. The main character is Athanasius Pernath, a contemporary lapidary from Prague. The novel is based on the Jewish legend about a rabbi who made a living being known as a golem (גולם) out of clay and animated it with a Kabbalistic spell, although these legends have little to do with the story's plotline. In 1915 the first and most famous of Meyrink's novels, The Golem, was published, though its drafts may be traced back to 1908. Many of these stories had satirical styles, ridiculing institutions such as the army and the church Austrian writer Karl Kraus would later describe Meyrink's work as combining " Buddhism with a dislike for the infantry". It was a compilation of short stories from the previous three books and several new ones the title is a parody of Des Knaben Wunderhorn. In 1911 Meyrink relocated with his family to the little Bavarian town Starnberg, and in 1913 the book Des deutschen Spießers Wunderhorn ( The German Philistine's Magic Horn) was published in Munich.
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Meyrink also edited a series of books on the occult. He continued translating until his death, including various occult works and even the Egyptian Book of the Dead. In 1908 the third compilation of short stories, Waxworks, was published.īeing in need of money, Meyrink started working as a translator, and he became a prolific one during five years he managed to translate into German fifteen volumes of Charles Dickens, as well as work by Rudyard Kipling and Lafcadio Hearn. Subsequently, the main character of the second Meyrink's novel The Green Face was given the same name. On 17 January 1908, two days before Meyrink's fortieth birthday, the second son, Harro Fortunat, was born. On 16 July 1906 his daughter Sybille Felizitas was born. On Meyrink married Philomene Bernt, whom he had known since 1896. Almost immediately after his arrival he published another compilation of his short stories, The Orchid. Approximately at the same time he relocated to Vienna. During spring 1903 Meyrink's first book, The Hot Soldier and Other Stories, was published. Early works Ĭover of The Hot Soldier and Other Stories.ĭuring the 1900s Meyrink started publishing satiric short stories in the magazine Simplicissimus, signing them with his mother's surname.
His jailhouse experiences are depicted in his most famous novel, The Golem (1913–14). Though after two months he was released from jail, his banking career was effectively ended. He was charged with using spiritualism in order to benefit from banking operations. Results of these studies and practices are found in Meyrink's works, which almost always deal with various occult traditions. Until his death Meyrink practiced yoga and other occult exercises. He studied theosophy, Kabbala, Christian Sophiology and Eastern mysticism. Meyrink was surprised by this dramatic coincidence and started to study the literature of the occult. At that moment he heard a strange scratching sound and someone's hand put a tiny booklet under his door.
That day, 14 August 1892, on Assumption Eve, Meyrink, twenty-four years old, was allegedly standing at his table with a gun at his head, determined to shoot himself. Meyrink described it in the autobiographical short story "The Pilot". In Prague an event occurred which played a providential role in Meyrink's life. In 1889, together with the nephew of poet Christian Morgenstern, Meyrink established his own banking company, named "Meier & Morgenstern". Meyrink lived in Prague for twenty years and has depicted it many times in his works. He then stayed in Hamburg for a brief time, until his mother relocated to Prague in 1883. Until thirteen years of age Meyrink lived mainly in Munich, where he completed elementary school.
Meyrink was not, despite the statements of some of his contemporaries, of Jewish descent – this rumour arose due to a confusion of his mother with a Jewish woman of the same name. He was the illegitimate son of Baron Karl von Varnbüler und zu Hemmingen, a Württembergian minister, and actress Maria Wilhelmina Adelheyd Meier. Gustav Meyrink was born with the name Gustav Meyer in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria) on 19 January 1868. He has been described as the "most respected German language writer in the field of supernatural fiction". Novelist, dramatist, translator, and banker, most famous for his novel The Golem. Gustav Meyrink (19 January 1868 – 4 December 1932) was the pseudonym of Gustav Meyer, an Austrian author, Karl von Varnbüler and Maria Wilhelmina Adelheyd Meier.
Sibylle Felizitas Böhler (1906), Harro Fortunat Meyrink (1908)
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