In this thesis, I analyze the Germanophone reception of Gustav Meyrink's The Golem (Der Golem) between 1916 and 1996 with respect to its treatment as light fiction (Trivialliteratur). I examine a representative selection of literary criticism concerning the dominant themes and narrative structures of the novel. Since The Golem could not be ascribed to a distinct genre or period within the canon, its reception has been characterized by profound dichotomies. Meyrink's novel can be seen as a blank screen upon which critics have projected their respective ideological agendas. By applying new historicist and genre studies, I contextualize the trends across eighty years of critical response to The Golem and the dialectical conflict between 'high' literature and popular fiction. I thus demonstrate that the novel's reception is symptomatic of the debate about art and popular fiction concerning works of early modern surrealism.

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