In 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 based on the Jewish legend about a rabbi who made a living being known as a golem (גולם) out of clay and animated it with a Kabbalistic spell, although these legends have little to do with the story's 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 becoming a real golem. Frenschkowski describes the Golem as both "a deep-footed initiatory tale and an urban fantasy". The novel was a great commercial success. In 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. The success of these works caused Meyrink to be ranked as one of the three main German-language supernatural fiction authors (along with Hanns Heinz Ewers and Karl Hans Strobl).
in 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 based on the jewish legend about a rabbi who made a living being known as a golem (גולם) out of clay and animated it with a kabbalistic spell although these legends have little to do with the story's 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 becoming a real golem frenschkowski describes the golem as both "a deep-footed initiatory tale and an urban fantasy" the novel was a great commercial success in 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 the success of these works caused meyrink to be ranked as one of the three main german-language supernatural fiction authors (along with hanns heinz ewers and karl hans strobl)