Gustav Meyrink

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-11-05

Gustav Meyrink, born Gustav Meyer, was an Austrian writer who worked as a novelist, playwright, translator and banker. He was born on 19 January 1868 in Vienna and died on 4 December 1932 in Starnberg, Bavaria. The illegitimate son of the Württemberg minister Baron Karl von Varnbüler and the actress Maria Wilhelmina Adelheid Meier, he spent his childhood mostly in Munich and moved to Prague in 1883, where he lived for about twenty years. In 1889 he co-founded a banking firm; he was charged with fraud in 1902 and jailed for two months. He turned to the occult, studying theosophy, Kabbalah and Eastern mysticism, and began publishing satirical short stories in Simplicissimus. His first book appeared in 1903, and he translated fifteen volumes of Dickens into German. Der Golem (1915) was followed by Das grüne Gesicht (1916) and Walpurgisnacht (1917). He converted to Buddhism in 1927.

Universe(s)

Books

• Der Golem (1915) · Der Golem Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 1 book
• Award recognitions across all universes: 0 (None recorded)

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