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Contemporary literary representations
In the twentieth century Umberto Eco's Foucault's
Pendulum, has several references to a homunculus,
particularly detailed in a chapter dealing with druidic
rites performed at a party in the country estate
(castle) of a wealthy Rosicrucian. After a series of
sensually stimulating occult acts are played out for the
small audience, several homunculi appear to be created,
but the main character, Casaubon, cannot decide if they
are wax or indeed authentic magic.
German horror writer Hanns Heinz Ewers used the mandrake
method for creating a homunculus as the inspiration for
his 1911 novel Alraune, in which a prostitute is
impregnated with semen from a hanged murderer to create
a woman devoid of morals or conscience. Several
cinematic adaptations of Alraune have been made over the
years, the most recent in 1952 with Erich von Stroheim.
The 1995 film Species also appears to draw some
inspiration from this variation on the homunculus
legend.
Homunculus - Prince of Story Tellers
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