Why is it I am attracted to the letters & diaries & biographies of people and times that submerge me in melancholy:

James Lees-Milne (What England Owes): the organisational genius behind the preservation of country houses by the National Trust in the UK

Monica Rawlins: renowned artist, diarist & goose-breeder (Writing the Century)

Nancy Mitford/Evelyn Waugh: Letters

Harold Nicholson/Vita Sackville-West: Letters

& many others of the same era.

It's very strange. I enjoy reading it all but then it leaves me the opposite of uplifted.
Peoples' lives are more interesting than anything else, however they are so often full of unhappiness, doubt, regret, with the occasional periods of achievement and fulfilment.

It's not that you set out to be disheartened. The life stories of artistic people just have the habit of taking you there.