The Golem
A masterpiece of surreal fantasy. The protagonist, called Athanasius Pernath is flung from the present, to the past, from one nightmare situation where the characters he meets have no link with anyon else. Underlying all the surface panic is a decades-old tragedy, followed by a present-day one. Kafka and Meyrink were contemporaries in the same city, and both possessed the gift of fantasy. It is not correct to say that Meyrink imitates Kafka. If anything, he outdoes Kafka in his bizarre surrealism
Stats for nerds
2recommend
2mentions
2people
2022years
100% recommend
What Hacker News says
- The early 1900s mystical fiction is a rabbit hole for sure. Voyage to Arcturus is a very good recommendation! Others in this vein include, but are not limited to:
Armed with Madness by Mary Butts
The Golem by Gustav Meyrink
Flower Phantoms by Ronald Fraser
The Stone Dragon by R. Murray Gilchrist
and so many more.
- > The Golem by Gustav Meyrink
I read this more than 20 years ago, and it still comes to my mind frequently. It’s haunting. Keep trying to read it again.
