User:Blheier/Reflections

Walpurgisnacht by Gustav Meyrink

Written in 1917, Walpurgisnacht is set against the backdrop of a WWI-torn Prague where the old families of the aristocracy avoid the New World across the river. The book opens with the appearance of Zrcaldo - the somnambulist, the actor, the 'mirror' - who takes on the form of Baron Elsendwanger's late brother. Although Zrcaldo looks and speaks like the late aristocrat (and even knows exactly how to find the hidden drawer in the wall), Zrcaldo provides a grotesque reflection. Meyrink describes the contrast in Zrcaldo's facial features as violent, and the Penguin sees Zrcaldo as a pharaoh who disguises himself as an actor in order to "hide the fact that it is a mummy under the make-up" (24). This sort of grotesque reflection is present throughout the novel.

-Polyxena and ancestress/painting (Ottokar's perspective) -Lizzie the Czech and the Penguin (age) -The Countess's home (flies, sheets over furniture) -Old World vs New World -Drum -Jan Zizka -April 30th -time -Green Frog Mirror Scene