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.

[1][3] After its publication, The Journal of a Disappointed Man became the best known personal account of multiple sclerosis.

[4] It was variously regarded "with undisguised contempt, damned as immoral, or acclaimed a work of genius, hailed as a masterpiece.

"[2] The strong early sales and the admiration received by the book are largely forgotten by the wider reading public today, but the book has been frequently reprinted in paperback and is regarded as a minor classic of English literature.

[2][5] It has been likened to the best work of other writers like Franz Kafka[6] and James Joyce.