Angel of the Western Window

"Angel of the Western Window" is the most significant work of the Austrian writer and esotericist Gustav Meyrink. The author presents his characters as immortal: they live and act in the Shakespearean era, in the 20th century, and in the... otherworldly realm, where their true nature is revealed. At the center of the narrative is the fate of the real figure of the English natural philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, and alchemist John Dee, inextricably intertwined with the fate of his distant descendant, who ultimately manages to dispel the charms of evil forces and, fully aware, crosses the threshold of otherness. Besides the novels of other authors, "Angel of the Western Window" and "The Green Face" by Meyrink have had a significant impact on the work of M. Bulgakov; "The Master and Margarita" is, in essence, a variation on the themes of Meyrink: doppelgänger characters, the motif of redemption, and an ironic epilogue.