Abstract
This book examines how alchemy is reflected in the author's works and the extent to which it constitutes the intellectual profile of his novels. The analysis is based on the novels The Golem / Der Golem (1915) and The White Dominican: From the Diary of an Invisible / Der Weisse Dominikaner: Aus dem Tagebuch eines Unsichtbaren (1921), in which the Hermetic art plays quite an important role.
I try to show the original way in which Meyrink integrates the Royal Art into the design of his works. Alchemists refer to their efforts as their Magnum Opus or 'Great Work'.
I perceive this Magnum Opus and its individual parts (putrefaction, albedo, rubedo) in selected works as a structure both all-embracing (e.g. in the way Meyrink treats the storyline, characters and spaces), and partially manifested (e.g. in individual motifs). The Magnum Opus may be considered the common thread that runs through these novels.
The Golem also takes Tarot symbolism into account as there are a number of points in common between alchemy and the Tarot. The aim of this work is to explain the most important ideas of the art of spiritual alchemy and to highlight the interesting parallels in Meyrink's work.