One of the most famous writers at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries - Gustav Meyrink. An expressionist and translator who has gained worldwide recognition for the Golem novel. Many researchers rightly call him one of the first bestsellers of the 20th century.
Childhood and youth
The future great writer was born in Vienna in 1868. His father, Minister Carl von Hemmingen, was not married to actress Maria Meyer, so Gustav was born illegitimate. By the way, Meyer is his real name, he took the pseudonym Meyrink later.
Biographers note an interesting detail: an expressionist writer was born on January 19 on the same day as the famous American mystic author, American Edgar Allan Poe. In the literature of their countries, they played similar roles.
Gustav Meyrink spent his childhood with his mother. Being an actress, she often went on tour, so his childhood was spent on constant trips. I had to study in several cities - Hamburg, Munich, Prague. Researchers at Meyrink said that relations with her mother were cool. That is why, as many literary scholars believe, demonic female images were so popular in his work.
Prague period
In 1883, Meyrink came to Prague. Here he graduated from the trading academy and received the profession of a banker. In this city, Gustav Meyrink spent two decades, repeatedly portraying him in his works. Prague for him is not only a backdrop, but also one of the main characters in several novels, for example, Golem, Walpurgis Night, and West Window Angel.
Here, one of the key events in the life of the writer happened, biographers note. You can learn more about him from the story "Pilot", published after his death. In 1892, Meyrink tried to commit suicide by experiencing a deep mental crisis. He climbed onto the table, picked up a gun and was about to shoot, as someone slipped a small book under his door - "Life after death." At that time, he refused an attempt to lose his life. In general, mystical coincidences played a big role both in his life and in his works.
Meyrink became interested in the study of Theosophy, Kabbalism, mystical teachings of the East, he was engaged in yoga. The latter helped him to cope not only with spiritual, but also with physical problems. The writer has suffered from back pain all his life.
Banking
In 1889, Gustav Meyrink seriously took up finance. Together with his companion Christian Morgenstern he founded the Mayer and Morgenstern bank. At first things went uphill, but the writer was not too diligent in banking, paying more attention to the life of a secular dandy.
The origin of the writer was indicated repeatedly, because of this he even fought a duel with one officer. In 1892 he married, almost immediately became disillusioned with the marriage, but divorced only in 1905 due to legal delays and perseverance of his wife.
The fact that banking is developing very badly, became apparent in 1902, when a case was opened on Meyrinka for the use of spiritualism and witchcraft in banking operations. He spent almost 3 months in prison. The accusations were recognized as slander, but this incident still negatively affected his financial career.
At the beginning of the literary path
Meyrink began his creative career in 1903 with small satirical stories. Already in them an interest in mysticism was noticeable. During this period, Gustav actively collaborates with Prague neo-romanticists. In the spring, his first book, The Hot Soldier and Other Stories, comes out, and a little later the collection of short stories Orchid. Strange Stories.
In 1905, draws up a second marriage - with Filomina Burnt. They travel, begin to publish a satirical magazine. In 1908, the third storybook, Wax Figures, was released. It is not possible to feed the family with literary work, so Meyrink begins to engage in translations. In a short period he manages to translate 5 volumes of Charles Dickens. Meyrink is engaged in translations until the end of his life, including paying great attention to occult texts.
The novel "Golem"
In 1915, the author’s most famous novel, The Golem, was published. Meyrink immediately receives European fame. The work is based on the legend of a Jewish rabbi who created a clay monster and revived it with the help of Kabbalistic texts.
The action takes place in Prague. The narrator, whose name remains unknown, somehow finds the hat of a certain Athanasius Pernath. After that, the hero begins to see strange dreams, as if he is that same Pernat. He is trying to find the owner of the headgear. As a result, he finds out that this is a stone-cutter and restorer, who lived many years ago in Prague, in the Jewish ghetto.
The novel was a resounding success around the world, having reached a record circulation of 100 thousand copies at that time. The popularity of the work was not prevented even by the First World War, which erupted at that time, and the fact that works that did not praise weapons were not successful in Austria-Hungary at that time.
The famous Soviet translator David Vygodsky translated the German Golem from German into Russian in the 1920s and 1930s.
The first resounding success ensured Meyrink the popularity of subsequent novels, but they were no longer issued in such a large circulation. "Green face" saw the light of 40 thousand copies.
Movie success
After the release of the novel "Golem", the
adaptations of Meyrink
's books became popular. The first to get this theme onto the big screen was the German film director Paul Wegener in 1915. It is worth noting that only the original legend connects them with the Meyrinka novel. Although it is possible that this book inspired the filmmaker. The role of the Golem was played by Wegener himself. As a result, he created a whole trilogy about clay man. In 1917, the painting Golem and the Dancer, and in 1920, The Golem: How He Came to the World. Unfortunately, the very first film is still considered lost. Only about 4 minutes of an hour of screen time survived. But thanks to Wegener, the Golem became a recognizable cinematic image.
Screen versions of Meyrink’s books do not end there. In 1936, the movie Golem was released in Czechoslovakia. Meyrink praised the work of director Julien Duvivier. In 1967, almost literally, the novel was filmed by the French director Jean Kershborn. In 1979, the Polish filmmaker Peter Shulkin addressed the same topic.
Green Face and Walpurgis Night
In the wake of success, several more works by such an author as Gustav Meyrink: Green Face and Walpurgis Night. In the third novel of the Austrian impressionist, the action takes place again in Prague during the First World War.
Walpurgis Night was written in a grotesque form, again with a lot of mysticism, esotericism. The author sneers at Austrian burghers and officials.
At the center of the story are two pairs of characters. An imperial life doctor with a mistress, a prostitute who fell into poverty, and a young musician Ottakar, in love with Countess Zagradka’s niece, whose son he is illegitimate.
The main action takes place on Walpurgis Night, when, according to belief, the usual rules cease to apply, the door opens between our and the other world. With this metaphor, Gustav Meyrink, whose biography is closely connected with the First World War, is trying to explain all the horrors of war and future revolutions.
The climax is a bloody battle, as if descended from the canvases of the Hussite Wars. Researchers later saw Walpurgis Night as a warning. The fact is that exactly one year later in Prague there were nationalist protests, severely suppressed by the imperial army.
In Russia, Walpurgis Night became popular back in the 1920s. Many literary scholars even believe that Archibald Archibaldovich from Bulgakov’s novel “Master and Margarita,” the director of the restaurant at Griboedov’s house, has been deducted from Mr. Bzdinke, the owner of the Green Frog tavern at Meyrink.
Meyrink's novels
In 1921, Meyrink published the novel The White Dominican, which did not receive widespread public success, and in 1927 released its last major work, The Angel of the Western Window. At first, critics reacted coldly to him, a translation into Russian appeared only in 1992 thanks to Vladimir Kryukov.
The action of the novel takes place simultaneously in several semantic layers. Before us is Vienna of the 1920s. The central character of the story is the follower and descendant of John Dee, the real-life Welsh scientist and alchemist of the 16th century. The hands of the ancestor fall into his hands. Their reading is interspersed with important events in the personal life of the protagonist. All this is symbolic and correlates with the biography of John Dee himself.
In this novel, the influence of Russian literature is felt. Some heroes go back to the characters of Dostoevsky and Andrei Bely.
Signs of the Meyrink style
Features of Meyrink's style are well traced from his latest novel. At its center is the alchemical symbol of a sacred marriage. There are two principles - male and female, who seek to reunite into a single whole in the main character. All this recalls the teachings of Carl Jung on the psychoanalytic interpretation of the symbolism of alchemists. The work contains a large number of references to alchemy, Kabbalism and tantric teachings.
The death of a writer
Gustav Meyrink, whose books are still popular, passed away at the age of 64. His demise is closely connected with the tragedy of the son of Fortunate. In the winter of 1932, a 24-year-old man was seriously injured while skiing and was confined to a wheelchair for life. The young man could not bear this and committed suicide. At the same age when his father tried to do it, but Meyrinka Sr then was saved by a mysterious pamphlet.
The writer outlived his son by about 6 months. December 4, 1932 he died suddenly. This happened in the small Bavarian town of Starnberg. He was buried next to his son. A white headstone with an inscription in Latin vivo, which means "live," is installed on the tomb of Meyrinka.
Meyrink was banned in Russia for a long time, especially during the Soviet era. After the collapse of the USSR, most of his works were translated into Russian and published.