David Park Barnitz

In autumn 1901, Midwest newspapers reported the sudden death of 23-year-old Harvard graduate and Orientalist scholar David Park Barnitz (1878–1901). He was identified as the anonymous author of The Book of Jade, a volume of poems noted for its distinctive style. A poem from the collection appeared in the Overland Monthly in March 1901 under Barnitz's name. While newspapers reported his death as accidental due to an enlarged heart, there was speculation among the public that Barnitz had committed suicide.

Barnitz studied under Dr. Carl M. Belser, Prof. Charles Lanman, and Prof. William James. He earned his A.M. degree at 21, and was admitted to the American Oriental Society, becoming its youngest member, nominated by Prof. Lanman. In his poem "Harvard: On His Twenty-First Year," Barnitz humorously critiqued his professors, writing, “Professors sit on lofty stools up curled, Through Yankee noses drooling all day long.”

Barnitz's influence extended more to poetry than to Asian studies. He adopted a decadent style, drawing inspiration from gothic and macabre poets such as Thomas Lovell Beddoes, Count Stenbock, James Thomson (B.V.), and others. A classmate of poet Wallace Stevens, Barnitz’s work reflected his intellectual cynicism and misanthropy. He admired the French decadents, though he critiqued them for failing to create a new art form.

In 2015, Hippocampus Press published an expanded edition of The Book of Jade, edited by David E. Schultz and Michael J. Abolafia, including previously unpublished writings. In 2019, the prelude of The

• List of unsolved deaths

• Works by David Park Barnitz in eBook form at Standard Ebooks
• The Book of Jade The only comprehensive David Park Barnitz site
• Park Barnitz (1901). The Book of Jade. New York. p. 10.
• Book Jade New Critical