From the end of the nineteenth century until after the First World War, Europe was swept by a large wave of occult thought, one that had an especially large impact on the artistic and literary worlds. One product of this was a strange novel called The Golem. Written on the eve of World War I by an Austrian writer named Gustave Meyrink, The Golem is a sort of existential Frankenstein. Deriving its name and basic information from the Medieval Jewish myth of the Golem- a sentient automaton made out of clay and brought to life through Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism- The Golem explores this concept in a unique way that goes far deeper than a typical horror story about a monstrous creation run amok.

The plot follows a man named Athanasius Pernath, an amnesiac living in the Jewish Ghetto of pre-World War I Prague. One day, a mysterious woman from his past comes to him for help from one of his neighbors, a junk dealer named Aaron Wassertrum, who is threatening to expose her affair to her husband (the affair is with a doctor who played a role in the suicide of Wassertrum's son, not Athanasius). Eventually, Wassertrum has Athanasius arrested on false theft charges, forcing Athanasius to spend months in jail (an episode based on events in Meyrink's own life). Upon his release, Athanasius discovers that the entire Jewish Ghetto has been evacuated because of a plague. And then, the hotel where he is forced to stay in catches on fire; while trying to escape, Athanasius wakes up, and discovers that he has accidentally switched his hat with someone else's, who turns out to potentially be mythical (it kind of makes sense when you actually read it).

Throughout all of these events, Athanasius finds himself haunted by the figure and the myth of the Golem, one which may actually be in the Jewish Ghetto during the novel's events. It's intentionally left vague as to whether the Golem in question truly exists, if it's just a mix-up with Athanasius himself (there's a scene where Athanasius triggers a Golem sighting), or entirely in Athanasius's head. This is done because the Golem of the novel isn't meant to just be a creature, but rather, a representation of vague, unformed spiritual forces that, every once in a while, erupt in an attempt to be formed into a coherent entity. This entity, most importantly, is a psychological one, representing the highest development of human spirituality. For many at the time, including Meyrink, this was the only way for the bourgeois civilization of Europe to get itself out of the situation that would lead to World War I.