| The Golem | |
| Title Orig: | Der Golem |
| Author: | Gustav Meyrink |
| Country: | Germany |
| Language: | German |
| Genre: | Speculative fiction |
| Publisher: | Kurt Wolff |
| Release Date: | 1915 |
The Golem (original German title: Der Golem) is a novel written by Gustav Meyrink between 1907 and 1914. First published in serial form from December 1913 to August 1914 in the periodical Die Weißen Blätter, The Golem was published in book form in 1915 by Kurt Wolff, Leipzig. The Golem was Meyrink's first novel. It sold over 200,000 copies in 1915.[1] It became his most popular and successful literary work, and is generally described as the most "accessible" of his full-length novels. It was first translated into English in 1928.
The novel centers on the life of Athanasius Pernath, a jeweler and art restorer who lives in the ghetto of Prague. But his story is experienced by an anonymous narrator, who, during a visionary dream, assumes Pernath's identity thirty years before. This dream was perhaps induced because he inadvertently swapped his hat with the real (old) Pernath's. While the novel is generally focused on Pernath's own musings and adventures, it also chronicles the lives, the characters, and the interactions of his friends and neighbors. The Golem, though rarely seen, is central to the novel as a representative of the ghetto's own spirit and consciousness, brought to life by the suffering and misery that its inhabitants have endured over the centuries.
The story itself has a disjointed and often elliptical feel, as it was originally published in serial form and is intended to convey the mystical associations and interests that the author himself was exploring at the time. The reality of the narrator's experiences is often called into question, as some of them may simply be dreams or hallucinations, and others may be metaphysical or transcendent events that are taking place outside the "real" world. Similarly, it is revealed over the course of the book that Pernath apparently suffered from a mental breakdown on at least one occasion, but has no memory of any such event; he is also unable to remember his childhood and most of his youth, a fact that may or may not be attributable to his previous breakdown. His mental stability is constantly called into question by his friends and neighbors, and the reader is left to wonder whether anything that has taken place in the narrative actually happened.
In his "Supernatural Horror in Literature" essay, H. P. Lovecraft said the novel is one of the "best examples" of Jewish folklore inspired weird fiction.[2] Also, in a letter, he called it, "[t]he most magnificent weird thing I've come across in aeons!"[3]
Dave Langford reviewed The Golem for White Dwarf #80, and stated that "It's the sort of nightmare you might have after an evening of too much lobster and Kafka. Very strange."[4]
The Guardian writer David Barnett said in his article about the novel that it is "one of the most absorbing, atmospheric and mind-boggling slices of fantasy ever committed to print," and "[a] century after its first publication, The Golem endures as a piece of modernist fantasy that deserves to take its place alongside Kafka."[5]
Since The Golem was first published in German, there have been at least three translations into English:
The Dover Publications edition was edited by E. F. Bleiler, who made some alterations to Pemberton's translation.[6]
The novel was the basis for the following movies:
The novel was adapted for the theatre by Daniel Flint, and received a world premiere in 2013.[7]
However, it was not the basis for three films of the same title by Paul Wegener, which, rather, adapt the original Golem legend:
Nor was it the basis for the operas of Eugen d'Albert (Der Golem (opera)) or Nicolae Bretan (Golem (Bretan opera)).
Sources