ALRAUNE
Book Details + Condition: Arno Press (New York). First Edition thus, 1976. Part of Arno Press' hard-to-find "Supernatural & Occult Fiction" collection. Very scarce facsimile reprint of the original publication, originally released in German, in 1911. Hardcover with purple boards and silver titling to front and spine. 342 pages. Translated by S. Guy Endore and beautifully illustrated by Mahlon Blaine. ALRAUNE is the second volume in Hanns Heinz Ewers’ Frank Braun trilogy: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Alraune, and Vampire. Inspired by medieval German beliefs in the occult properties of the mandrake root (alraune), the humanoid-shaped mandrake root or Mandragora officinarum was widely believed to be produced by the semen of hanged men under the gallows. Among other beliefs, alchemists claimed that hanged men ejaculated after their necks were broken and that the earth absorbed their final "strengths". In the story, occult student Frank Braun persuades his cruel uncle to create a child through artificial insemination, using sperm from a condemned man and a prostitute as the mother. The child, Alraune, grows into a beautiful but perverse young woman with mysterious powers - suffering from obsessive sexuality and perverse relationships throughout her life. She learns of her unnatural origins, ultimately avenging herself. The novel explores themes of artificial insemination and individuality: genetics versus environment.
From the massive occult collection of King Lawrence Parker - academic, dissertation author, and book collector extraordinaire. Book is in near-new, unread condition, with firm binding, bright boards, and a clean interior. Please see our other listings for more rare Arno Press publications.
