Gustav Meyrink (1868–1932)

Amazingly important story, captivating, and well rounded. I wonder why is isn't as well know as Mary Shelly's Frankenstein? Full of references to Jewish Magic and mysticism, Egyptian Magic, and Prague mythology. The story follows a successful repairer of goods; a skilled artist is haunted by memories he cannot retrieve, led by his friends, including a puppeteer, and a rabbi, discovers they are protecting him from a breakdown he had in his past, through hypnosis locked the malevolent feelings in part of his mind. Fantastic descriptions of the Jewish in Prague, the tunnels, the folklore, the mysticism. Recounts the story of Rabbi Loew, and the origin of tarot. Some of the details in the book include The Book of Ibbur (the name of the book the protagonist was to repair for a customer), but so distracted by the book, after reading, could not recall what became of the customer, nor his appearance. The book was in part responsible for his revelation of his own past. The Egyptian ibis head on top of the apparition in the chapter "Fear". "Do not fear, it is Lelshimurim, the Night of Protection". "Chabrat zereh aur bocher" was written on his breast. Habal Garmin, name of protagonist's double. References to Václav Babinský, and "The Wall by the Last Lamp, Stag's Moat".… (més)

Se describe el viaje espiritual de un joven, un ser invisible cuya fascinante aventura nos es narrada a través del autor. Cristóbal Palomar ha sido adoptado por un personaje un tanto extravagante, el barón von Jöcher, farolero de la ciudad, cuyo antepasado había recibido el título de nobleza a causa de su oficio. La relación con el barón le abre a Cristóbal un camino situado en los límites del sueño y de la realidad, poblado de enigmas, por los que transita dende el espectro de un dominico blanco hasta la misteriosa figura de la cabeza de la Medusa.… (més)