BERNSTEIN, HUGO KARL (pseudonym, Karl Hugo):
Hungarian dramatist; born in Budapest 1808; died at Milan 1877. He began the study of medicine, but lacking means sufficient to continue it, he entered the army, where within twenty months he succeeded in laying by a sum that enabled him to qualify himself for medical examination. In 1830 he served during the Polish insurrection as army surgeon at Warsaw, whence he proceeded to Budapest, where he practised as homeopath. In 1839 he went to Paris, whither he had been called by Hahnemann. This was a turning-point in his career. The cosmopolitan French capital with its numerous theaters reawakened his youthful inclination for the stage and for poetry. He proceeded to Hamburg, where, in 1840, he published "Die Sehnsuchts-Klänge eines Hagestolzen." It was here, also, that he wrote the plays "Brutus und Lucretia," "Das Schauspiel der Welt," and "Der Stein der Weisen." In 1844 he returned to Budapest, where he resumed the study of the Hungarian language, which by this time he had almost forgotten. Here he published his "Psalmen eines Armen Poeten," "Egy Magyar Király," and the well-known "Bankier und Baron." He also wrote two French dramas, "La Comédie Infernale" and "L'Iliade Finie." In Berlin he was arrested forlèse-majesté, because of a book published by him under the title "Hugo Amber Bernstein, oder Das Verkannte Genie"; he was, however, released upon the plea of insanity. Though a genius, he was possessed by the idea that he alone had been appointed to revolutionize art, science, and religion—in short, the entire intellectual life of man.
