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The Golem

by Gustav Meyrink, Robert Irwin (Editor), Mike Mitchell (Translator)

3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 · rating details · 1,502 ratings · 88 reviews

"A superbly atmospheric story set in the old Prague ghetto featuring The Golem, a kind of rabbinical Frankenstein's monster, which manifests iitself every 33 years in a room without a door. Stranger still, it seems to have the same face as the narrator. Made into a film in 1920, this extraordinary book combines uncanny psychology of doppelganger stories with expressionism...more

Paperback, 264 pages

Published June 28th 2000 by Dedalus (first published 1914)

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Jan 24, 2011 Greg rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Hello. My name is Greg and this is my review for:

I should first warn anyone reading this review that I suck at reading and you'd probably be better off reading reviews written by people who don't suck at reading. I only discovered my reading suckness last week, so I shamefully apologize for anyone who has read any of my six hundred and eight other reviews and thought they were reading a review written by someone who didn't suck. This review is probably a much more informative review than mine:

ht ...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Forrest rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While the story of The Golem alone deserves four stars as Gustav Meyrink's masterpiece, the Tartarus Press edition, of which I happen to be a fortunate owner, pushes the book-as-artifact into the five star category. This book is one of my most prized possessions, one of the books I'll reach for if the library ever catches fire. Everything about it screams "I defy you to find another book as cool as me". From the outstanding internal artwork to the silk ribbon marker to the weight of the pages th...more While the story of The Golem alone deserves four stars as Gustav Meyrink's masterpiece, the Tartarus Press edition, of which I happen to be a fortunate owner, pushes the book-as-artifact into the five star category. This book is one of my most prized possessions, one of the books I'll reach for if the library ever catches fire. Everything about it screams "I defy you to find another book as cool as me". From the outstanding internal artwork to the silk ribbon marker to the weight of the pages themselves, this is a book of quality workmanship through and through. If I could own all of my favorite books in a Tartarus hardcover edition such as this, I might do nothing but read the rest of my life, starving to death in an easy chair under the light of a reading lamp.

As several reviewers have pointed out, The Golem is obtuse. It is clearly not the story of the golem as dramatized in the silent movies directed by Paul Wegener. This book is much less forthright in its horror, if it can be called horrific at all. I think that "unsettling" is a more accurate term. The heavy mysticism and symbolism Meyrink employs simultaneously draws in and distances the reader, making for an uneven read that sets up a disturbing cadence in the reader's mind. This can be aggravating at times, and absolutely captivating at others. One always feels that there's something just around the next bend, emotionally and intellectually speaking. I wonder if Meyrink didn't intend the book to read this way. In this way, he is much like Kafka, but on a more ethereal plane, if you will. Where Kafka creates unease with a sharp dose of uncaring bureaucracy, Meyrink plays hide and seek with shadows that may be interpreted as real demons or as the slow nightmare of a collective unconsciousness. It is because of this openness to interpretation that one reading is really insufficient to judge the work. The Golem, while not as hallucinatory as some think (those who haven't read it) or hope (those who were looking for an early surrealist Gothic tale) , is also not as incomprehensible as some reviewers complain. It is not an easy read, but, like many difficult reads, it is rewarding to wander Prague's streets in search of Meyrink's elusive creature.(less)

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Apr 25, 2009 El rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: early20th-centurylit, eastern-central-european-lit

A golem is not the Gollum of Tolkien lore. I say this because I already had to explain this to someone at work who got super excited because he did not know a book about Gollum had been written separately. Sigh.

A golem is an animate being made from inanimate substances, often like mud, etc. and the stories hail from early Judaism. The most common concept is that the Hebrew word for truth (Emet) written on a piece of paper is placed on the Golem's head, or in the mouth, which then brings the Gole...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Isidore rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Some effective episodes, and the novel does have an odd, haunted feel to it. However, the whole thing is built on a complex mystical vision which I find incomprehensible and impenetrable. This system was obviously deeply meaningful to Meyrink, but when (especially toward the end) it intrudes and overwhelms the narrative, my interest wanes. It's as if Meyrink wrote the book to explore and adumbrate (but not articulate) a personal mystical theory, without much concern for whether the reader would...more

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Jul 12, 2012 sabisteb rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, classics

Phantastisch wie ein Opiumrausch
Prag um 1914. Der anonyme Erzähler träumt von Athanasius Pernath, dessen Hut er in der Kirche versehentlich mit seinem eigenen verwechselt hat.
Um 1890 lebt der ca. vierzigjährige Pernath als Gemmenschneider und Restaurator von Antiquitäten im Judenviertel der Stadt. Athanasius Pernath hat psychische Probleme. Er kann sich an seinen Vergangenheit nicht erinnern, hat immer wieder Gedächtnislücken, Krampfanfälle und Wahnvorstellungen, die sich noch verstärken, als ei...more Phantastisch wie ein Opiumrausch
Prag um 1914. Der anonyme Erzähler träumt von Athanasius Pernath, dessen Hut er in der Kirche versehentlich mit seinem eigenen verwechselt hat.
Um 1890 lebt der ca. vierzigjährige Pernath als Gemmenschneider und Restaurator von Antiquitäten im Judenviertel der Stadt. Athanasius Pernath hat psychische Probleme. Er kann sich an seinen Vergangenheit nicht erinnern, hat immer wieder Gedächtnislücken, Krampfanfälle und Wahnvorstellungen, die sich noch verstärken, als ein Unbekannter ihm einen alten Folianten zur Restaurierung bringt, das Buch Ibbur. Pernath vermutet, dass der mysteriöse Auftraggeber, an dessen Gesicht er sich nicht erinnern kann, der Golem gewesen sei, der alle 33 Jahre in Prag umhergehe.
Durch dieses Ereignis gerät Pernaths ohnehin bereits angeknackste Psyche noch weiter aus den Fugen. Erschwerend kommt hinzu, dass er in den Rachefeldzug des Medizinstudent Charousek gegen gegen den Trödler Aaron Wassertrum verwickelt wird, in den auch eine alte Bekannte aus Pernaths früherem Leben verwickelt ist, in die er wohl mal verliebt war, woran er sich aber nur schemenhaft erinnert, außerdem ist sie verheiratet und liebt einen anderen, mit dem sie eine Affäre hat. Was Pernath zusammenhält ist seine Liebe, für die ebenfalls etwas verrückte, schöne Jüdin Mirjam, die Tochter des Archivars Hillel, der sein Nachbar ist. Mirjam glaubt an Wunder, will Wunder erleben, erwartet Wunder und ist selber dabei ziemlich wunderlich.

Gustav Meyrink dürfte heutzutage vor allem als Übersetzer von Dickens bekannt sein. Weniger bekannt ist, dass Meyrink selber Schriftsteller war um mit "Der Golem" 1913/14 selber einen Bestseller landete. Das Buch erinnert an die albtraumhaften Welten einiger Geschichten Lovecrafts, in denen sich Wahn und Realität mischen, das war damals in der phantastischen Literatur wohl gerade in. Meyrinks Schreibstil ist dabei blumig poetisch "Mit erschreckender Deutlichkeit hörte man plötzlich wie die eisernen Gasstäbe fauchend die flachen herzförmigen Flammen aus ihren Mündern in die Luft bliesen – – dann fiel die Musik über das Geräusch her und verschlang es."
Die Geschichte ist ein abgedreht, da der Erzähler diese Erlebnisse durch die Augen eines verrückten erlebt und diese auch so wiedergibt. Eine Geschichte wie im Opiumrausch. Die Erlebnisse stehen dabei für sich, werden nicht hinterfragt oder mit Belegen untermauert. Die Geschichte gibt die subjektiven Wahnvorstellungen des Pernath oder den Traum des Erzählers wieder. So gesehen eine klassische, psychodelische Schauergeschichte um 1900. Unterhaltsam, teils ein wenig langatmig, weil über lange Strecken einfach gar nichts passiert, aber ein hübsches Portrait des Prager Ghettos vor seiner Sanierung, in welchem Juden und Christen gemischt und friedlich in sie vereinender Armut mehr schlecht als Recht über die Runden kamen. (less)

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Mar 11, 2012 Milda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Šią knygą pirkau dar mokykloje, o perskaičiau tik dabar. Ir teisingai - sudėtinga knyga. Gustav Meyrink yra laikomas Rilkės ir Kafkos pirmtaku (bent jau pastarojo tai tikrai, jau matau iš kur išlindo vabalas). Knyga labai psichodeliška - kupina vizijų, sapnų, neaiški laiko tėkmė, daug įvairių daugiasluoksnių simbolių ir kabalistinės pasaulėžiūros. knygoje aprašomas ligotos sąmonės žmogaus išgijimo procesas - sunkus ir persmelktas siaubo. Knyga patiko dėl labai vaizdingai aprašomų vizijų, į kuria...more

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Feb 01, 2010 Rick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Golem, said to have been created by the Rabbi Loew for the protection of the Ghetto in Prague, is a mysterious figure that apparently takes many forms, reminiscent in some ways of Leo Perutz’s Marquis of Bolibar.

Gustav Meyrink’s novel THE GOLEM, set in the turn-of-the-20th-century Prague Ghetto, revolves around the main character and narrator, Athanasius Pernath, who is searching for his identity. His memory of his own past has been blocked, and he is seeking both memory of that past and the...more

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Feb 24, 2013 Ariel rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Sara

Shelves: favorites

It's not even March yet and I know that this is going to be one of the best books I'd have read all year.

I heard of this novel thanks to Borges, who wrote its prologue a year before his death. The influence of Meyrink on Borges' work seems obvious to me now. In fact, this book may have influenced many other works. I'll have to describe the book the way wine professionals describe a wine's flavor, by comparing it to other flavors. The Golem is a strange combination of Poe's William Wilson, The Ma...more It's not even March yet and I know that this is going to be one of the best books I'd have read all year.

I heard of this novel thanks to Borges, who wrote its prologue a year before his death. The influence of Meyrink on Borges' work seems obvious to me now. In fact, this book may have influenced many other works. I'll have to describe the book the way wine professionals describe a wine's flavor, by comparing it to other flavors. The Golem is a strange combination of Poe's William Wilson, The Matrix, Inception, The Machinist, Slenderman (coincidentally, Slenderman sounds like a Jewish name), Memento, the entire work of Dostoyevsky (especially with the young mad student Charousek), the entire work of Kafka (Meyrink, if I'm not mistaken, was a friend of Max Brod), all wrapped up in the mystical and dready atmosphere of Prague.

I was expecting the typical story of the Jewish rabbi who creates a golem out of clay, but this novel is much more complex. Meyrink's golem is far more elusive and ambiguous, less corporeal. One of the characters' theory is this:

Once in every generation a spiritual epidemic spreads like lightning through the Ghetto, attacking the souls of the living for some purpose which is hidden from us, and causing a kind of mirage in the shape of some being characteristic of the place that, perhaps, lived here hundreds of years ago and still yearns for physical form.

Just as on sultry days the static electricity builds up to unbearable tension until it discharges itself in lightning, could it not be that the steady build-up of those never-changing thoughts that poison the air in the Ghetto lead to a sudden, spasmodic discharge? A spiritual explosion blasting our unconscious dreams out into the light of day and creating, as the electricity does the lightning, a phantom that in expression, gait and behaviour, in every last detail, would reveal the symbol of the soul of the masses, if only we were able to interpret the secret language of forms?

The golem is less Frankenstein's monster and more of a collective manifestation, a creature willed into existence. As Borges puts is, "this figure is both the narrator's alter ego and an incorporeal symbol of the generations of Jewish secularism."

Meyrink obviously had a thing for mysticism, but unlike most authors who delve in mysticism, he manages to be readable, and the bizarre hallucinations of the narrator are among the best descriptions I've read. There is a recurring image of a woman "stark naked and as gigantic as a brazen colossus", whose pulse is like an earthquake coursing through her veins. The hermaphrodite is also an important theme in the book, as well as the tarot.

What reminded me of The Matrix is this passage, where the Golem appears and offers the narrator some seeds:

Immobile, it held out its hand towards me. In it were little seeds the size of beans, red with black spots round the edges (…) From the quivering of my heart I could tell that the moment of decision had come. My fingers itched to take the seeds; at that I saw a tremor go through the figures in the reddish circle.

Should I reject the seeds? The trembling passed to those in the bluish circle.

It might just be a coincidence, but the directors of The Matrix read The Invisibles while making the movie, which is just as obscure as this novel, in my opinion.(less)

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Apr 21, 2013 M.R. Dowsing rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a very strange book. Anyone expecting a fairly straightforward horror story with an actual clay golem stomping around killing people is likely to get a surprise. In fact, it's debatable whether there's even really a golem in it at all. The famous German expressionist film from 1920 also has nothing to do with this book. However, if you like the idea of reading something which is perhaps the sort of thing Kafka might have written if he'd been really into the occult, this is the book for y...more

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Feb 25, 2013 Daniel Gamboa rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the novel as a moment in the life of Athanasius Pernath. It's the world in which Mr. Pernath lives, the characters he meets and the ghetto of Prague, what makes reading this book fascinating. The aura of uncertainty and mistery, along with the misery, hatred, obsession, greed, amorality, love, murder and a vast array of human feelings and acts, permeates this novel to the point of an intoxication that leaves you wanting for more.

My only problem is that I am not familiar with Jewish mys...more

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Mar 29, 2013 Williwaw rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a very unusual book. That's good, because it challenged me. That's also not so good, because I struggled to get through it at times. Consequently, I was not sure how to "rate" it. So take my three stars with a grain of salt.

I that suspect some of my difficulties were compounded by the stale translation employed by this edition (Pemberton's English version: probably the first English translation, and probably in the public domain). I was often hung up by the translator's sentence structur...more This is a very unusual book. That's good, because it challenged me. That's also not so good, because I struggled to get through it at times. Consequently, I was not sure how to "rate" it. So take my three stars with a grain of salt.

I that suspect some of my difficulties were compounded by the stale translation employed by this edition (Pemberton's English version: probably the first English translation, and probably in the public domain). I was often hung up by the translator's sentence structure, and found myself reading the same sentence several times before I could make sense of it.

There's a more recent translation by Mike Mitchell, so those interested in reading this book should be aware that there's at least one more contemporary alternative to Pemberton.

Two things make The Golem unusual: first, the author's extensive use of symbolism; and second, his frequent blurring of reality with the world of dreams. Meyrink has clearly drawn on the Kabbalah, the Tarot deck, Egyptian mythology, and possibly several other religious or mystical traditions. One never has a sense that the narrator is trustworthy; or that he's even a real person. There seem to be several layers of "reality," so ultimately the symbolism is probably more important than the plot.

Meyrink draws some extremely colorful characters. Among them are: Pernath (the narrator)-- a jeweler who cannot remember his past, and who might be insane or epileptic; Wasserstrum, the sinister junk dealer across the way; Hillel, the wise man and healer; Miriam, Hillel's young daughter (Pernath's love interest); Angelina, an upper-class lady who is having an affair with a doctor who resides in the Ghetto; and of course, the Prague Ghetto itself!

There is no Golem, as far as I can tell, except for the Golem that haunts Pernath's imagination. The Golem is, in fact, one of Pernath's alter egos. Pernath's encounters with the Golem are indeed creepy, and make some of the most memorable sequences of the book.

There's a parable at the beginning of this book, about a crow that dives to pick up what it thinks is a tasty morsel of fat. It turns out to be a tasteless stone. The parable is about the Buddha, and how from the distance his wisdom seems appealing to us. Yet when we get a real taste of it, we tend to abandon the Buddha's wisdom, just as the crow drops the stone.

The narrator (who may or may not be Pernath) who relates this parable at the outset of the book also relates a dream where he is trudging up a dry riverbed, desperately seeking that stone which looks like a lump of fat because he seeks truth and wisdom.

I felt the same desperation as I made my way through this book. There was much that I did not understand. It deserves a re-read! Next time, I'll try the Mitchell translation: The Golem (less)

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Apr 02, 2012 Simon rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 08, 2011 Newwhitebear added it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

La scrittura di Meyrink avvince il lettore, sa toccare le corde più strane del nostro immaginario. Il golem, la prima opera che fra poco compie cento anni, portati molto bene, è l'esempio più illuminante di come lo scrittore riesca a coniugare fantasia, realtà, sogno e delirio in una miscela che travolge il lettore, lo tiene legato alla lettura. Esoterismo e cabala, citazioni e descrizioni di un mondo, quello di Praga a inizio novecento, sono fuse insieme in una lucida pazzia letteraria. Sicuram...more

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Oct 07, 2011 Idril rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dieses Buch war ganz anders, als ich erwartet hatte. Zum einen spielt das unheimliche Wesen, der Golem, gar keine so wesentliche Rolle, er tritt – für meine Begriffe – lediglich als eine Art Versinnbildlichung der alten Judenstadt Prags in Erscheinung. Zum anderen ist der Stil des Romans expressionistisch, kafkaesk, stellenweise hat er mich gar an Wolfgang Borchert erinnert, und das ist ja jetzt so gar nicht mein Ding. Vor allem zu Beginn des Romans ist die Handlung so verworren und konfus, dass...more

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Jul 06, 2012 míol mór rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: finished, in, jan, 2008, jew, deutsch, 900, gothic, europe, mitteleuropa

Mi trovo a ripetere, forse banalmente, le cose che spesso si leggono a proposito di questo libro: tutto sommato Meyrink non �� un autore di primaria grandezza, e forse proprio per questo (ci sono teorie al riguardo) il romanzo rispecchia molto l'atmosfera culturale mitteleuropea di quel periodo.
Ma si tratta in effetti di una piccola perla che meriterebbe di essere pi�� conosciuta, nonostante i difetti. Le parti migliori sono quelle su Praga, e in particolare sul ghetto ebraico.
(e io ho comprat...more

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Jan 05, 2013 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

If I were to judge this novel strictly on the atmosphere it creates in the Prague ghetto and for its descriptions, especially of dreams, I would give it five stars. Generally I am not a fan non-linear fiction, but Meyrink does it extremely well as he doesn't become entangled with writing style.

My criticism of the novel is that it strays into a private mythology without, at times, giving the reader a way out. The mixture of delusion and mysticism is sometimes not well balanced, and the reader is...more

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Nov 01, 2012 Jesse rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

This book was a good read, but not at all what I expected.

I had imagined a retelling of "Frankenstein", but this story is not similar at all...in fact, we hardly see the golem at all.

What I liked and disliked about this book are two sides of the same coin.
I enjoyed the dark and gloomy imagry. The bizzare and often scary scenery made for, at times, a very creepy tale. However, more often than not, Meyrink got so far out there that I couldn't understand what was going on. Scenes often jumped from...more

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Dec 25, 2010 Rafal Jasinski rated it 4 of 5 stars

Książka niepokojąca, przepełniona metafizyką i surrealizmem, jakkolwiek nie pozbawiona spoiwa w postaci doskonale poprowadzonej intrygi, która częstokroć potrafi zaskoczyć - co uwypukla się najbardziej w jej finale. Początkowo trudno przyzwyczaić się do nieco archaicznego języka powieści, którego percepcję dodatkowo utrudnia niegdysiejsza ortografia, gramatyka i interpunkcja. Kiedy jednak oswoimy się z techniczną stroną utworu, nie sposób nie dać się porwać niezwykle klimatycznej, pełnej zagadek...more

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May 19, 2012 Arwen56 rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romanzi

Questo romanzo mi ha tenuta impegnata un mese intero e sono riuscita ad arrivare alla fine con fatica. Molta fatica. Tantissima fatica. Una fatica della madonna, considerando che sono solo duecentocinquanta pagine. Non ci ho capito assolutamente niente. Anzi, diciamocela schietta: non ci ho capito un beato cazzo. Non ho la più pallida idea di dove volesse andare a parare l’autore, né se da qualche parte stesse andando o volesse effettivamente andare. Di solito, in questo tipo di evenienza, ho no...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars

Golem is awesome and engaging novel. Lots of mystic, old Prague (where I was twice as a teenager) and characters. Not to mention Jews and their culture and "features" :) Anyway, very very good book.

The short stories which came with my edition weren't that interesting and their commentaries were more intense and engaging than actual story. Too many allegories and symbols, which aren't familiar or even interesting to me.

Story of Meyrink is especially interesting. E.g. taking his son's suicide deta...more

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May 30, 2012 Bennievermeer added it

Gustav Meyrink's 1915 novel 'The Golem' is a classic of fantastic and expressionist fiction. Imagine Kafka (a friend of Meyrink's) writing 'Frankenstein' (published only a few years later), and you get some idea of the book's intense, haunting atmosphere. But Meyrink's novel is much more ambitious, weaving elements from Jewish mysticism and mythology to create a complex and highly symbolic story that reads like a dark hallucination.

Read my full review: http://www.brnrd.net/blog/archive/200...

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Feb 09, 2012 Nicki Markus rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is an intriguing piece of fiction that takes you into a claustrophobic world, reminiscent of the works of Meyrink's contemporary, Kakfa. Like Kafka, Meyrink offers us an intriguing glimpse of life in the backstreets of Prague, most notably the Jewish Quarter, and there are certainly some parallels with Kakfa's The Trial towards the end of the book.

The story follows a man who, having put on another's hat, finds himself transported into that man's mind, making this other man the protagonist....more

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Sep 23, 2011 Ben rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 09, 2012 Sonatajessica rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012, classica-of-horror

It took me two months to finish this not long book, after diving in for 50 pages I abandoned it for weeks and had to force myself back into it. And that was one of my issues, I could never really get into this classic of horror literature. Me and classics, we have a bit of a hate-love relationship and -again- I am not pleased with what I discovered.
Mysticism and metaphors dominate the run and not all adds up in the end, no matter how hard you want to turn it, some things don't make sense, but ye...more It took me two months to finish this not long book, after diving in for 50 pages I abandoned it for weeks and had to force myself back into it. And that was one of my issues, I could never really get into this classic of horror literature. Me and classics, we have a bit of a hate-love relationship and -again- I am not pleased with what I discovered.
Mysticism and metaphors dominate the run and not all adds up in the end, no matter how hard you want to turn it, some things don't make sense, but yeah, I was not really willing to turn that hard, by the end I was pretty pissed off. As a warning: I think one should be rather familiar with Jewish spirituality to understand some things better, this book doesn't really introduce but assumes the reader knows about certain aspects.
Murder and intrigues make for most of the plot, something I have a hard time being fascinated by, and then the protagonist is a confused chaos of a person and it is never really clear if I can trust his observations, if we are in a dream or real life or in a crazy mind, which could be very fascinating but didn't play out right for me. Pernath, the main character, and most of his interactions with the rest of the ensemble didn't work for me. Some things were just dropped, other elements added rather randomly, and why do we never learn completely about his erased past, he hardly cares about his "forgetting" himself. The complete picture turned to a very strange one, one I didn't like at all.
The Golem itself is not really in the story, to my utter disappointment; Prague and our group of characters are supposed to represent the essence of the Golem I read within my additional research about the book after I finished it clouded by what I just read. I sure didn't get that from my own reading experience, as a lot of things it stayed too vague. I liked the thick atmosphere, walking through Prague's alleys felt real and stirring but the happenings of this book remained a blur image for me. Honestly, my minded drifted a lot while reading and I couldn't find enough interest in me to go back and re-read, therefor I do admit there is a big chance I missed hints and important pieces. But it was so hard to get invested in Pernath who has almost no story of his own, his past has been erased and most of the events are triggered by third characters and only told to him, they are their stories and Pernath is more of a listener to their fates, still, they lure him into their schemes and the final solutions happen off screen while Pernath sits in jail innocently accused. Phew, I was not pissed anymore but bored, too much dialogue, and those jail scenes, are you kidding me?
Part of me really wants to enjoy these kafkaesque storytelling but just as in Nabokov's "Invitation to a Beheading" it doesn't flow right for me, it doesn't work. In the final chapter we get the dream like additional twist where I was certain this is not my story, the wrong kind of weird, the wrong kind of Kafka, the wrong kind of spooky. And no real Golem, I am not willing to get over that.(less)

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Aug 31, 2010 Andrew rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: absurdist-and-existentialist

Bizarre.

The novel seems to function like one of David Lynch's trippier films (Inland Empire or Eraserhead) where the real world, dreams, and ineffable transcendent experiences are mixed together which leaves the reader unsure of what is or isn't real. Sounds cool right? Really avante-garde? Unfortunately, The Golem suffers from some pretty basic flaws in my opinion.

From what I can tell, Gustav Meyrink was heavily influenced by Jewish mysticism and there are even some Buddhist references. Again...more

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Sep 07, 2011 Oscar rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: clásicos, míos, literatura-fantástica

Con ‘El Golem’ no hay término medio. O la consideras una obra capital dentro del gótico del siglo XX, o la desprecias sin más, teniéndola por una novela enrevesada y pesada. Yo soy de los primeros. Al principio, y sin tener mucha idea de lo que me iba a encontrar, pensaba leer una historia de terror con la figura del mito del Golem de la literatura judía como tema principal. Y no es así, ya que el terror brilla por su ausencia. Es posible que este sea uno de los principales motivos por los que l...more

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Oct 26, 2011 Owen Curtsinger rated it 1 of 5 stars

Woooah, most of this was a slog for me, but I generally have a hard getting into metaphysical books or other psychological big digs. The narration was so pocked with hazy half-recollections and turnarounds and seemingly irrelevant references that it was tough to retain interest. I was looking for a spooky tale about the classic Jewish legend, something more Lovecraft-like, but this book feels more like Lovecraft's appreciation for the occult combined with Dostoevsky's knack for drilling into his...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Janek del Desierto rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

'Der Golem' is the masterpiece of Gustav Meyrink in literary terms. Some other novels by him are more clear in their meaning, but this is one unparaleled in onirism and symbolism.

The vivid descriptions of the Prague ghetto and the weird atmosphere that surrounds it and its dwellers will crawl under your skin and invade your imagination. Or maybe it will bore you to no end if you expect a horror tale with stale monsters and scary, hollywood-like moments, because there are none.

A must-read for a...more

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Nov 17, 2011 Mazel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: challenge-litt-rature-juive

1915. Tandis que la Première Guerre mondiale ensanglante l'Europe, un auteur quasiment inconnu publie son premier roman, qui connaît un succès foudroyant.
Placé sous le signe du Golem, cette créature d'argile façonnée jadis par un rabbin, et qui revient hanter la ville tous les trente-trois ans, le livre ressuscite la Prague du tournant du siècle : Prague et son ghetto, rasé quelques années avant la guerre par des autorités soucieuses d'« assainissement ».
Dans ses rues tortueuses où sont tapis...more

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Jun 05, 2013 Tom Lloyd rated it 2 of 5 stars

parts were ok, parts were haunting. Unfortunately, lots was the overwritten babbling of a mentally ill mind so about halfway through I decided my spare time was too precious to plod any further through something I just wasn't finding interesting. Might be I'll go back to it later and remember it well overall, as I did with House on the Borderland, but until then I'll leave it on the shelf.

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About Gustav Meyrink

The illegitimate child of a baron and an actress, Myrinck spent his childhood in Germany, then moving to today's Czech Republic where he lived for 20 years. The city of Prague is present in most of his work along with various religious, occult and fantastic themes. Meyrinck practiced yoga all his life.

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He unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide at the age of 24. His son committed sui...more

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Quotes from The Golem

“I have not let myself be stultified by science, whose highest goal is to furnish a `waiting room', which it would be best to tear down.” — 3 people liked it

“A brief rustling that broke off short, as if startled at itself, then deadly silence, that agonising, watchful hush, fraught with its own betrayal, that stretched each minute to an excruciating eternity.” — 2 people liked it

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