Discover the Classics with A to Z Classics

With A to Z Classics, discover or rediscover all the classics of literature. Contains Active Table of Contents (HTML) and ​in the end of book include a bonus link to the free audiobook.

Inspiration and Similar Works

This story was inspired by a remark of Mark Twain's to the effect that it was a pity that the best part of life came at the beginning and the worst part at the end. By trying the experiment upon only one man in a perfectly normal world I have scarcely given his idea a fair trial. Several weeks after completing it, I discovered an almost identical plot in Samuel Butler's "Note-books."

Publication and Reader Response

The story was published in "Collier's" last summer and provoked this startling letter from an anonymous admirer in Cincinnati:

"Sir--I have read the story Benjamin Button in Colliers and I wish to say that as a short story writer you would make a good lunatic I have seen many pieces of cheese in my life but of all the pieces of cheese I have ever seen you are the biggest piece. I hate to waste a piece of stationary on you but I will."