Gustav Meyrink
Encyclopedia
Gustav Meyrink was the pseudonym of Gustav Meyer, an Austria
n author, storyteller, dramatist, translator, and banker, most famous for his novel The Golem
.
, Austria-Hungary
(now Austria
) on January 19, 1868. He was the illegitimate son of Baron Karl von Varnbüler von und zu Hemmingen and actress Maria Wilhelmina Adelheyd Meier.
Until thirteen years of age Meyrink lived mainly in Munich
, where he completed elementary school. He then stayed in Hamburg
for a brief time. Then his mother relocated to Prague
during 1883.
In Prague an event occurred which played a providential role in Meyrink's life. Meyrink described it in the autobiographical short story "The Pilot". That day, August 14, 1892, on Assumption
Eve, Meyrink, 24 years old, was allegedly standing at his table with a gun at his head, determined to shoot himself. At that moment he heard a strange scratching sound and someone's hand put a tiny booklet under his door. The booklet was called Afterlife
. Meyrink was surprised by this dramatic coincidence and started to study the literature of the occult
. He studied theosophy
, Kabbala
, Christian Sophiology
and Eastern mysticism
. Until his death Meyrink practiced yoga and other occult exercises. Results of these studies and practices are clearly seen in Meyrink's works, which almost always deal with various occult traditions. Gershom Sholem, an expert in Jewish mysticism, has stated that Meyrink's works are based on superficial sources and do not have any strong association with any authentic tradition.
During 1889, together with the nephew of poet Christian Morgenstern, Meyrink established his own banking company, called "Meier & Morgenstern".
At that time Meyrink also was a member of the famous Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
in London. This is evidenced by the letter from William Wynn Westcott
(1893), which has remained in Meyrink's private archives. He was also member of the Theosophical Society, but only temporarily.
During 1902 Meyrink was charged with fraud. He was charged with using spiritualism
in order to benefit from banking operations. Though in two months he was released from jail, his banking career was over. His jailhouse experiences are depicted in his most famous novel, The Golem
.
in the Simplicissimus
magazine, signing it with his mother's surname. During spring 1903 Meyrink's first book, The Hot Soldier and Other Stories was released. Approximately at the same time he relocated to Vienna
. Almost immediately after his arrival another compilation of his short stories, The Orchid. Strange stories, was released.
On May 8, 1905 Meyrink married Philomene Bernt, whom he had known since 1896. On July 16, 1906 his daughter Sybil Felizata was born.
During 1908 the third compilation of short stories, Waxworks, was published.
On January 17, 1908, just the day before Meyrink's fortieth birthday, the second son, Harro Fortunat, was born. Subsequently the main character of the second Meyrink's novel The Green Face was given the same name.
Being 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
. He continued translating until his death, including various occult works and even the Egyptian Book of the Dead
.
During 1911 Meyrink with his family moved to the little Bavarian town Starnberg
, and during 1913 in Munich the book called The German Philistine's Horn was released. It was a compilation of short stories from the previous three books and several new ones. Many of these stories had satirical overtones, 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".
(גולם) out of clay
and animated it with a Kabbalistic spell, although these legends have little to do with the plotline. The main character is Athanasius Pernath, a contemporary lapidary from Prague. It is left to the reader to decide whether Pernath is simply writing down his hallucinations or gradually turning into a real golem. The novel was a great success and many copies were published. During 1916 one more compilation of short stories, Bats, and soon a second novel, The Green Face, was published. The next year his third novel, Walpurgis Night, was written.
By 1920 Meyrink's financial affairs improved so that he bought a villa
in Starnberg
. The villa became known as "The House at the Last Lantern" after the name of the house from The Golem
. There he and his family lived for the next eight years and two more works – The White Dominican and Meyrink's longest novel The Angel of the West Window
– were written.
, Bavaria, Germany. He is buried in Starnberg Cemetery.
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n author, storyteller, dramatist, translator, and banker, most famous for his novel The Golem
The Golem (Meyrink)
The Golem is a novel written by Gustav Meyrink in 1914.First published in serial form as Der Golem in 1913-14 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...
.
Childhood
Gustav Meyrink was born with the name Gustav Meyer in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
(now Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
) on January 19, 1868. He was the illegitimate son of Baron Karl von Varnbüler von und zu Hemmingen and actress Maria Wilhelmina Adelheyd Meier.
Until thirteen years of age Meyrink lived mainly in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, where he completed elementary school. He then stayed in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
for a brief time. Then his mother relocated to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
during 1883.
Prague
Meyrink lived in Prague for twenty years and has depicted it many times in his works.In Prague an event occurred which played a providential role in Meyrink's life. Meyrink described it in the autobiographical short story "The Pilot". That day, August 14, 1892, on Assumption
Assumption of Mary
According to the belief of Christians of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and parts of the Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglicanism, the Assumption of Mary was the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her life...
Eve, Meyrink, 24 years old, was allegedly standing at his table with a gun at his head, determined to shoot himself. At that moment he heard a strange scratching sound and someone's hand put a tiny booklet under his door. The booklet was called Afterlife
Afterlife
The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
. Meyrink was surprised by this dramatic coincidence and started to study the literature of the occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
. He studied theosophy
Theosophy
Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...
, Kabbala
Kabbala
Kabbala may refer to:*Kabbalah, is a religious philosophical system claiming an insight into divine nature*Sefer ha-Qabbalah by Abraham ibn Daud*Kabbala Denudata , a book from Christian Knorr von Rosenroth, a Christian Hebraist...
, Christian Sophiology
Sophiology
Sophiology is a philosophical concept regarding wisdom, as well as a theological concept regarding the wisdom of God...
and Eastern mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
. Until his death Meyrink practiced yoga and other occult exercises. Results of these studies and practices are clearly seen in Meyrink's works, which almost always deal with various occult traditions. Gershom Sholem, an expert in Jewish mysticism, has stated that Meyrink's works are based on superficial sources and do not have any strong association with any authentic tradition.
During 1889, together with the nephew of poet Christian Morgenstern, Meyrink established his own banking company, called "Meier & Morgenstern".
At that time Meyrink also was a member of the famous Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a magical order active in Great Britain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which practiced theurgy and spiritual development...
in London. This is evidenced by the letter from William Wynn Westcott
William Wynn Westcott
William Wynn Westcott was a coroner, ceremonial magician, and Freemason born in Leamington, Warwickshire, England...
(1893), which has remained in Meyrink's private archives. He was also member of the Theosophical Society, but only temporarily.
During 1902 Meyrink was charged with fraud. He was charged with using spiritualism
Spiritism
Spiritism is a loose corpus of religious faiths having in common the general belief in the survival of a spirit after death. In a stricter sense, it is the religion, beliefs and practices of the people affiliated to the International Spiritist Union, based on the works of Allan Kardec and others...
in order to benefit from banking operations. Though in two months he was released from jail, his banking career was over. His jailhouse experiences are depicted in his most famous novel, The Golem
The Golem (Meyrink)
The Golem is a novel written by Gustav Meyrink in 1914.First published in serial form as Der Golem in 1913-14 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...
.
Early works
During the 1900s Meyrink started publishing satiric short storiesShort Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
in the Simplicissimus
Simplicissimus
Simplicissimus was a satirical German weekly magazine started by Albert Langen in April 1896 and published through 1967, with a hiatus from 1944-1954. It became a biweekly in 1964...
magazine, signing it with his mother's surname. During spring 1903 Meyrink's first book, The Hot Soldier and Other Stories was released. Approximately at the same time he relocated to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. Almost immediately after his arrival another compilation of his short stories, The Orchid. Strange stories, was released.
On May 8, 1905 Meyrink married Philomene Bernt, whom he had known since 1896. On July 16, 1906 his daughter Sybil Felizata was born.
During 1908 the third compilation of short stories, Waxworks, was published.
On January 17, 1908, just the day before Meyrink's fortieth birthday, the second son, Harro Fortunat, was born. Subsequently the main character of the second Meyrink's novel The Green Face was given the same name.
Being 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
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
. He continued translating until his death, including various occult works and even the Egyptian Book of the Dead
Book of the Dead
The Book of the Dead is the modern name of an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom to around 50 BC. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated rw nw prt m hrw is translated as "Book of Coming Forth by Day". Another translation would be "Book of...
.
During 1911 Meyrink with his family moved to the little Bavarian town Starnberg
Starnberg
The city of Starnberg is in Bavaria, Germany, some 30 km south-west of Munich. It lies at the north end of Lake Starnberg, in the heart of the "Five Lakes Country", and serves as capital of the district of Starnberg...
, and during 1913 in Munich the book called The German Philistine's Horn was released. It was a compilation of short stories from the previous three books and several new ones. Many of these stories had satirical overtones, ridiculing institutions such as the army and the church;
Austrian writer Karl Kraus
Karl Kraus
Karl Kraus was an Austrian writer and journalist, known as a satirist, essayist, aphorist, playwright and poet. He is regarded as one of the foremost German-language satirists of the 20th century, especially for his witty criticism of the press, German culture, and German and Austrian...
would later describe Meyrink's work as combining "Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
with a dislike for the infantry".
Fame
During 1915 the first and most famous of Meyrink's novels, The Golem, was published, though its drafts may be traced back to 1908. The novel is rooted in Jewish legend about a Rabbi who made a living being called a golemGolem
In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated anthropomorphic being, created entirely from inanimate matter. The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material in Psalms and medieval writing....
(גולם) out of clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
and animated it with a Kabbalistic spell, although these legends have little to do with the plotline. The main character is Athanasius Pernath, a contemporary lapidary from Prague. It is left to the reader to decide whether Pernath is simply writing down his hallucinations or gradually turning into a real golem. The novel was a great success and many copies were published. During 1916 one more compilation of short stories, Bats, and soon a second novel, The Green Face, was published. The next year his third novel, Walpurgis Night, was written.
By 1920 Meyrink's financial affairs improved so that he bought a villa
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
in Starnberg
Starnberg
The city of Starnberg is in Bavaria, Germany, some 30 km south-west of Munich. It lies at the north end of Lake Starnberg, in the heart of the "Five Lakes Country", and serves as capital of the district of Starnberg...
. The villa became known as "The House at the Last Lantern" after the name of the house from The Golem
The Golem (Meyrink)
The Golem is a novel written by Gustav Meyrink in 1914.First published in serial form as Der Golem in 1913-14 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...
. There he and his family lived for the next eight years and two more works – The White Dominican and Meyrink's longest novel The Angel of the West Window
The Angel of the West Window
The Angel of the West Window is a novel written in 1927 by Gustav Meyrink steeped in alchemical, hermetic, occult and mystical imagery and ideas interweaving the life of Elizabethan Magus Dr John Dee with that of a fictional modern descendant, Baron Mueller.The story is narrated by Baron Mueller,...
– were written.
Death
The name "Fortunat" did not bring much luck to Meyrink's son: during the winter of 1932, while skiing, he injured his backbone terribly. That meant that for the rest of his life he would be confined to his armchair. On July 12, at the age of 24 he committed suicide – at the same age as his father was going to do it. Meyrink survived his son by half a year. He died on December 4, 1932 in StarnbergStarnberg
The city of Starnberg is in Bavaria, Germany, some 30 km south-west of Munich. It lies at the north end of Lake Starnberg, in the heart of the "Five Lakes Country", and serves as capital of the district of Starnberg...
, Bavaria, Germany. He is buried in Starnberg Cemetery.
External links
- Photo and bibliography
- Allrefer.com entry
- Dedalus Books publishers of Meyrink in English
- Bolognese Tears English translation of Meyrink short story
- Simplicissimus Complete edition online