David Park Barnitz

{{Infobox person | name = David Park Barnitz | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1878|6|24}} | birth_name = | alias = | birth_place = U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1901|10|10|1878|6|24}} | death_place = Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_cause = | body_discovered = | education = | occupation = Poet | spouse = | partner = | known_for = ''The Book of Jade'' }} '''David Park Barnitz''' (June 24, 1878 – October 10, 1901) was an American poet best known for ''The Book of Jade'', a book of Decadent poetry published anonymously in 1901.

==Life and work== ''The Book of Jade'' was the only volume Barnitz published before his death at age 23.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.strangefamiliars.com/home/the-book-of-jade | title=The Book of Jade | date=25 July 2024 }}</ref> According to ''Publishers Weekly'', the book has remained "renowned among horror readers for the 'ornate morbidity' of its contents".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://publishersweekly.com/978-1-61498-126-8 | title=The Book of Jade: A Critical Edition by Park Barnitz }}</ref> In 2015, Hippocampus Press published an expanded edition of ''The Book of Jade'', edited by David E. Schultz and Michael J. Abolafia, which included previously unpublished writings.

In 1901, Midwest newspapers reported his death as accidental due to an enlarged heart. There was speculation among the public that Barnitz had committed suicide. H. P. Lovecraft referred to Park Barnitz as "a vivid Decadent of the ''fin de siècle'' period who modelled his verse on Baudelaire & killed himself soon after graduation from Harvard".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hippocampuspress.com/mythos-and-other-authors/poetry/the-book-of-jade-by-park-barnitz | title=The Book of Jade by Park Barnitz : Hippocampus Press, specializes in classic horror and science fiction }}</ref>

==See also== * List of unsolved deaths

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/david-park-barnitz}} *[http://www.bookofjade.com/ The Book of Jade] The only comprehensive David Park Barnitz site *{{cite book |title=The Book of Jade |publisher=New York |author=Park Barnitz |year=1901 |isbn= |url=https://archive.org/details/bookjade00barngoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/bookjade00barngoog/page/n14 10]}} *[https://www.amazon.ca/Book-Jade-New-Critical/dp/1614981264 Book Jade New Critical] for sale at Amazon * {{Librivox author|id=19346}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnitz, David Park}} Category:1878 births Category:1901 deaths Category:1901 suicides Category:19th-century American poets Category:19th-century American male writers Category:American male poets Category:Decadent literature Category:Harvard College alumni Category:Unsolved deaths in Massachusetts