The Golem by Meyrink
The Golem (1914)
by Gustav Meyrink, translated by Madge Pemberton, edited by E.F. Bleiler
190 pages - Dover
Around the beginning of the twentieth century, a jewel-cutter lives in the Prague Ghetto, his entire past except for the last few years is locked away from him, the result of treatment at a psychiatric hospital. The book records a series of strange experiences in his life, initiated by the visitation of the Golem of Jewish myth. He struggles against a dark-hearted junk-dealer who has a shop across the street, is instructed by a poor wise man who lives in his building, tries to resolve his relationships with several women, and spends time with the various denizens of the Ghetto in the streets and cafes.
This is one strange, mysterious, mystical, powerful, off-kilter book. Much of it reads like the strange zone between sleep and wakefulness, and indeed the narrator does freely drift from the 'real' world into dreams, visions, and the world of imagination. It's very fragmented (Meyrink apparently had a lot of trouble completing this, his first novel, and cut this out of a much more elaborate story) and for all its quality and brilliance it is certainly ragged and somewhat obtuse. There are strong visionary, religious, psychological and occult elements, and I actually had some very interesting incidences of synchronicity while reading this.
by Gustav Meyrink, translated by Madge Pemberton, edited by E.F. Bleiler
190 pages - Dover
Around the beginning of the twentieth century, a jewel-cutter lives in the Prague Ghetto, his entire past except for the last few years is locked away from him, the result of treatment at a psychiatric hospital. The book records a series of strange experiences in his life, initiated by the visitation of the Golem of Jewish myth. He struggles against a dark-hearted junk-dealer who has a shop across the street, is instructed by a poor wise man who lives in his building, tries to resolve his relationships with several women, and spends time with the various denizens of the Ghetto in the streets and cafes.
This is one strange, mysterious, mystical, powerful, off-kilter book. Much of it reads like the strange zone between sleep and wakefulness, and indeed the narrator does freely drift from the 'real' world into dreams, visions, and the world of imagination. It's very fragmented (Meyrink apparently had a lot of trouble completing this, his first novel, and cut this out of a much more elaborate story) and for all its quality and brilliance it is certainly ragged and somewhat obtuse. There are strong visionary, religious, psychological and occult elements, and I actually had some very interesting incidences of synchronicity while reading this.