DAVID, JACOB JULIUS:

By: Isidore Singer, Benuel H. Brumberg

Austrian journalist and author; born at Weisskirchen, Moravia, Feb. 6, 1859. Immediately after his birth his parents removed to Fulnek, Moravia, where his father died of cholera when David was but seven years old. The boy successively attended the gymnasia of Teschen, Troppau, and Kremsir. In 1878 he entered the University of Vienna to study philology. While a student he was subjected to want and privation; and it was not until 1890 that he was able to secure means for passing his examinations for his doctorate. Thereafter he devoted himselfwholly to literature and authorship, his first poems appearing in the "Deutsches Dichterbuch aus Oesterreich," edited by Karl Emil Franzos. Later he published long and short stories, and numerous poems and essays in various publications and periodicals of Austria and other countries; distinguishing himself equally as a lyric poet, essayist, dramatist, and novelist.

The more important of his productions are: "Das Höfe-Recht," a story, Dresden; "Das Blut," "Gedichte," "Probleme," Dresden, 1892; "Die Wiedergeborenen," six tales, Dresden; "Hagar's Sohn," a drama in four acts, which appeared in the "Moderne Rundschau," and was performed in the Landestheater of Vienna on Jan. 20, 1891; and "Am Wege Sterben," Vienna, 1900. All these productions, evincing a rich, vivid imagination, forcible style, and exquisite finish, mark their author as a fine artist of the realistic school. At the beginning of his literary career David was for some time associate editor of Franzos' "Wiener Illustrirte Zeitung." Since 1891 he has collaborated on the "Montags-Revue," writing for it theatrical notices on the performances in the Vienna Burg und Volkstheater, and later also conducted the art department in the "Oesterreichische Volkszeitung."

S.B. B.