Nerveracked

They face life in varied ways — some nerveracked and tense, some graceful and ironic, some lusty and ruthless, some shadowed and mysterious, some bitter and defiant — but unquestionably they all face it, with scant truckling to any public thirsting for spurious joy and the conventional happy ending.

The men grew nerveracked and hysterical, after months of having every wish gratified and of being unable to imagine anything — except freedom — which was not instantly provided.

One problem for this biographer is that the dramatic climax of his life, which throws a romantic light even on what was tedious and nerveracked in his past, may make him seem too remarkable: unique as no man is, instead of unique as all men are.