In 1903 he became an editor for Lieben Augustin in Vienna, and during the interwar period he collaborated with the satirical magazine Simplicissimus, with which several well-known writers were associated, including Bertolt Brecht.

In 1927 he converted from Protestantism to Mahayana Buddhism. As a writer, he followed in the tradition of Hoffmann and Poe, becoming a romantic and strange poet of dreams. He drew his themes from the oral traditions of old Prague and from the fantastical world of the “other side.”

He wrote five novels and numerous short stories. Among the works published in this series is his masterpiece The Golem.