The Journal of a Disappointed Man

Production

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 first edition bore a preface by H.G. Wells, which led some reviewers to believe the journal was a work of fiction by Wells himself;

Reception

After its publication, The Journal of a Disappointed Man became the best known personal account of multiple sclerosis. It was variously regarded "with undisguised contempt, damned as immoral, or acclaimed a work of genius, hailed as a masterpiece." It has been likened to the best work of other writers like Franz Kafka and James Joyce.

References

References

1. T. Jock Murray (2005) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=b_g9Nr51T7YC Multiple Sclerosis: The history of a disease]'', Demos Medical Publishing: New York, USA.
2. Wells publicly denied this but the true identity of "Barbellion" was not known by the public until after Cummings' death.[https://sites.google.com/site/thequotablebarbellion/a-barbellion-chronology "A Barbellion Chronology"] ''The Quotable Barbellion''. Accessed 27 December 2018.
3. A Compston (1988) [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1032909/ "The 150th anniversary of the first depiction of the lesions of multiple sclerosis"]. ''Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry'', ''51''(10): 1249-1252.
4. Pearce, J. M. S.. (2005). "Historical Descriptions of Multiple Sclerosis". European Neurology.
5. Robert Heys (2008) [http://www.bmj.com/content/336/7654/1195.2.extract "''The Journal of a Disappointed Man''"]. ''[[The BMJ]]'', '''336''': 1195. doi: 10.1136/bmj.39583.545775.4E
6. [[Edward Sackville-West, 5th Baron Sackville]], ''Inclinations'', 1949, New York: Scribner
7. James Mildren, ''Literary limbo engulfs Devon journalist'', Western Morning News, 29 January 1985