Meyrink’s obsessions and life experiences are written into the unsettling narrative of a strange creature who visits Prague’s Jewish ghetto every 33 years and strikes terror into the hearts of its inhabitants. A disturbing and occasionally bewildering work which at times reads like the outpourings of a troubled mind seeking acceptance and understanding. Its initial print run is reported to have sold 200,000 copies.įrequently compared to Frankenstein, Meyrink’s novel was inspired by Jewish literature and Prague legends of a mythical creature said to have been created in the seventeenth century by Rabbi Judah Loew. A restored version was released in 2011 featuring a new score by alt.rock band Pixies frontman Black Francis.Īn omnibus edition of The Golem was published after the release of the first film in Wegener’s trilogy. Wegener’s 1920 film The Golem: How He Came into the World is a classic example of German expressionism. The first two of Wegener’s trilogy are now considered to be lost.
German director Paul Wegener helmed three cinematic adaptations.
Meyrink’s best-known work was originally published as a serial. Promoting an occultist group the pamphlet inspired an interest in mystical teachings that would become a recurrent theme in his writings. The leaflet saved him from attempting suicide again. Crossing the room he noticed that someone has slipped a pamphlet under his door. In 1891 Meyrink stood in his apartment with a revolver in his hand fully prepared to end his life when he was distracted by a scratching sound. Clinically depressed he suffered a nervous breakdown and attempted suicide. Before the publication of his best-known work, he spent 20 years as the director of the Meyer and Morgenstern Bank in Prague. A contemporary of Kafka, Gustav Meyrink was the illegitimate son of a minister of state and a Bavarian actress.
0 kommentar(er)
