Wilhelm Nero Pilate Barbellion was the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of Bruce Frederick Cummings (7 September 1889 – 22 October 1919), an English

diarist A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A person ...

who was responsible for '' The Journal of a Disappointed Man''. Ronald Blythe called it "among the most moving diaries ever created".

Early life and education

Cummings was born in

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, but ...

16 Cross Street on 7 September 1889, the youngest child of John and Maria Cummings. He was a naturalist at heart and ended up working at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docu ...

's Department of Natural History in London. Having begun his journal at the age of thirteen, Cummings continued to record his observations there – gradually moving from dry scientific notes to a more personal, literary style. Despite an obvious passion for the subject from an early age, Cummings, upon the advice of others, followed his father and Brother (Arthur John) into the world of journalism, which he hated, as he often mentioned in his diary. His literary ambitions changed course in 1914 upon reading the journal of the Russian painter Marie Bashkirtseff, in whom he recognised a kindred spirit. In his 15 January 1915 entry he indicated that he intended his Journal to be published: "Then all in God’s good time I intend getting a volume ready for publication."

Army rejection

Cummings' life changed forever when he was called to enlist in the British Army to fight in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fight ...

in November 1915. He had consulted his doctor before taking the regulation medical prior to enlisting, and his doctor had given him a sealed, confidential letter to present to the medical officer at the recruitment center.W. N. P. Barbellion, ''The Journal of a Disappointed Man'', 1919, New York: George H. Doran. Page 225. Cummings did not know what was contained in the letter, but in the event it was not needed; the medical officer rejected Cummings as unfit for active duty after the most cursory of medical examinations. Hurt, Cummings decided to open the letter on his way back home to see what had been inside, and was staggered to learn that his doctor had diagnosed him with

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. Thi ...

, and that he almost certainly had less than five years to live.W. N. P. Barbellion, ''The Journal of a Disappointed Man'', 1919, New York: George H. Doran. Page 255. The news changed Cummings profoundly, and his journal became much more intense and personal as a result. He had married Winifred Eleanor Benger (aka Eleanor Abbey after her second marriage to Edwin Abbey) shortly before discovering his illness in 1915, and had a daughter, Penelope, in October 1916, but was later moved to discover that his wife had been informed of his condition long before he himself knew his fate, and his efforts to spare the feelings of his family had been in vain since they had known his condition even before he had.

Publication of the diaries and final years

His diaries up to the winter of 1917, which he revised and corrected prior to publication, were eventually published in March 1919 under the title ''The Journal of a Disappointed Man''. He chose the pseudonym "W. N. P. Barbellion" to protect the identities of his family and friends; he chose the forenames " Wilhelm", "

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

" and " Pilate" as his examples of the most wretched men ever to have lived. 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; Wells publicly denied this but the true identity of "Barbellion" was not known by the public until after Cummings' death. ''The Journal of a Disappointed Man'', filled with frank and keen observation, unique philosophy and personal resignation, was described by its author as "a study in the nude". The book received both adulatory and scathing reviews; Collins, having originally optioned the book, eventually rejected it 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. He died on 22 October 1919 at home in Camden Cottage,

Gerrards Cross Gerrards Cross is a town and civil parish in south Buckinghamshire, England, separated from the London Borough of Hillingdon at Harefield by Denham, south of Chalfont St Peter and north bordering villages of Fulmer, Hedgerley, Iver Heath and ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-eas ...

, having recently approved the proofs of a second short volume of memoirs, ''Enjoying Life and Other Literary Remains''; a third brief volume of his very last entries, ''A Last Diary'', appeared in 1920. His identity was made public through his obituaries in various newspapers, at which point his brother Henry R. Cummings gave a newspaper interview providing details of the life of "Barbellion". The strong early sales and the admiration received by ''The Journal of a Disappointed Man'' are largely forgotten by the wider reading public today, but the book has been frequently reprinted in paperback and is regarded as a classic of English literature. It has been likened to the best work of other writers, including

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

and

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

. It is also much admired by many with

as a frank and eloquent portrayal of their struggle. Numerous MS societies and charities have recommended or even published copies of the book to encourage greater understanding among those with and without MS alike (see link below). Barbellion sums up his life in one of the last entries in ''The Journal of a Disappointed Man'': "I am only twenty-eight, but I have telescoped into those few years a tolerably long life: I have loved and married, and have a family; I have wept and enjoyed, struggled and overcome, and when the hour comes I shall be content to die."W. N. P. Barbellion, ''The Journal of a Disappointed Man'', 1920, London: Chatto & Windus. Page 305. Concerning death, Barbellion wrote:

References

External links

The Quotable Barbellion

* * *
''The Journal of a Disappointed Man'' (1920 edition) at Internet Archive (free e-book download)

The complete Works of Barbellion
serialised as a weblog
Essays by W. N. P. Barbellion at Quotidiana.org

The Barbellion Prize
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbellion, W. N. P. 1889 births 1919 deaths Writers from Barnstaple English essayists English diarists Neurological disease deaths in England Deaths from multiple sclerosis People with multiple sclerosis 20th-century essayists 20th-century pseudonymous writers

Early life and education

Army rejection

Publication of the diaries and final years

Further reading

References

External links