'A neglected classic.' - The New York Times
'Among the most moving diaries ever created.' - Ronald Blythe
'The 100-year-old multiple sclerosis diary that became a classic ... a furious, sometimes ecstatic, volatile little book.' - The Guardian
The life of Bruce Frederick Cummings (1889-1919), who wrote under the name of W. N. P. Barbellion, was tragically curtailed by multiple sclerosis. The Journal of a Disappointed Man begins as an ambitious teenager's notes on the natural world, and then, following his diagnosis at the age of twenty-six, transforms into a deeply moving account of battling the disease. Barbellion's diary is full of humour and fierce intelligence, and combines a passion for life with clear-sighted reflections on the nature of death.
The Journal of a Disappointed Man caused a sensation upon publication in 1919. Barbellion was often likened to diarists like Samuel Pepys and Denton Welch; proclaimed a literary equal to Franz Kafka and James Joyce; and belongs alongside the biographical pages of Charles Darwin, Evelyn Waugh and Katherine Mansfield.
Published shortly before the author's death in 1919, The Journal of a Disappointed Man presents a remarkable memoir that addresses struggles with poverty, inadequate education, and the creeping paralysis of multiple sclerosis. Yet author W. N. P. Barbellion manages to write with uplifting eloquence and passion of his love for family, natural history, music, and literature.
Told with a thoroughly modern voice, the unjustly overlooked Journal is reprinted here with a thoughtful Introduction by H. G. Wells, who writes of the book's "unpremeditated and exquisite beauty."
'In this diary of an intensely egotistical young naturalist, tragically caught by the creeping approach of death, we have one of the most moving records of the youthful aspects of our universal struggle ... unpremeditated and exquisite beauty.' - H.G Wells
'The Journal hit me like an explosion"- David Bradford, The Guardian
'If I had a friend who found life tedious, who was maybe even suicidal, and I had the power to make him or her read one book, it would be the soul-stirring diary of Wilhelm Nero Pilate Barbellion' - Noel Perrin
'This Journal is one of the great affirmations in our literature.' - The Washington Post
'The greatest diary a man has written' - Thomas Mallon
'Parallels with Kafka's Diaries having been drawn but Barbellion is more than honest: his introspection has that supercharged quality, often found in German and Russian, but very seldom in English, literature - at all events since understatement became a national characteristic.' - Edward Sackville-West
About the author
W. N. P. Barbellion was the pseudonym of Bruce Frederick Cummings (1889-1919). He selected W. N. P. as the initials of three of 'the most wretched figures in history' Kaiser Wilhelm, Emperor Nero and Pontius Pilate. Barbellion was the name of his favourite pastry-shop on Gloucester Road. Cummings was a keen naturalist who worked in the Entomology Department of London's Natural History Museum. Upon attempting to enlist in the British Army during World War I, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The discovery of his disease intensified the tenor of his journal-keeping, and his frank and articulate reflections on coping with a fatal disease remain a powerful testament to his life and struggles.
