Here is the first English bio of the cult author of The Golem, written by a prize-winning scholar. The remarkable life and the fantastic legend that was Meyrink, allowing him and those who knew him to speak in their own words wherever possible. The illegitimate son of an aristocratic politician and an actress, Meyrink established himself as a banker in Prague, while achieving notoriety as a dandy and rake, while also being a successful sportsman. About to commit suicide, he chanced on a pamphlet about life after death, put his revolver away and started a lifelong interest in the occult. He unmasked false mediums and experimented with alchemy, drugs and clairvoyancy until an affair of honor led him to challenge the whole of the Prague officer corps, setting machinations in motion which resulted in his being wrongly imprisoned. His bank then collapsed and he became a writer. Stories collected around him, so that it is often difficult to distinguish fact from fiction.