First published in 1919, “The Journal of a Disappointed Man” is the first volume of published journal entries by English naturalist and diarist Bruce Frederick Cummings, writing under the pseudonym W. N. P. Barbellion.
“The Journal of a Disappointed Man” was described by its author as ‘a study in the nude’. The book was originally optioned by Collins, who eventually rejected the book because they feared the ‘lack of morals’ shown by Barbellion would damage their reputation. An editor’s note at the very end of the book claims Barbellion died on 31 December 1917, but Cummings in fact lived for nearly two more years.
The preface of the book by H.G. Wells led some reviewers to believe the journal was a work of fiction by Wells himself; Wells publicly denied this but the true identity of ‘Barbellion’ was not known by the public until after Cummings’ death.
Begun when its author was 13 years old, the Journal at first catalogues Barbellion’s misadventures in the Devon countryside – collecting birds’ eggs, spying girls through binoculars – but evolves into a deeply moving account of his struggle with poverty, his lack of formal education, his flailing attempts at love, and most harrowing of all his slow death from multiple sclerosis.
Yet, for all its excruciating honesty, W.N.P. Barbellion has an extraordinary lust for life. As Zeppelins loomed above the streets of South Kensington, the humour and beauty he found in the world around him – in music, friendship, nature and love – deepens not just the tragedy of his own life, but the millions of lives lost during the First World War.
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