Hauptseminar Failure in America An Incoherent Cultural History

-I’m a loser, baby,/So why don’t you kill me,” sing-songwriter Beck announced in 1993. Describing all the different ways someone can be a loser, the musician Beck began his successful music career with a song about failure. This instance represents merely one example in what ways failing and success are connected: in Hollywood films, protagonists often begin as outcasts, loners, and losers before they discover their true talent and save the world; in TV culture, the geek has gained a prominent and popular place in the sitcom genre. These and many other examples speak to an intimate connection of success and failure. While the United States have often been considered the land of unlimited opportunity where everyone can fulfill their dreams, these success narratives, then, appear to depend on some form of failure – as Henry Ford once stated: -failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” But is failure always a pretext for success? What is failure? How can failure be defined? And in what ways is our understanding of failure changing with time? In a time of failing cities, a failing financial system, and failed imperial interventions abroad, the United States needs to be analyzed from a different perspective. Rather than looking at different success myths, this seminar will look at past and present phenomena to explore the multiple meanings of -failure.” Throughout the semester, we will discuss narratives, illustrations, and representations of failure in popular culture, film, visual art, photography, literature, urban studies, non-fiction texts, politics, and philosophy. We will, thus, look at the diverse and multiple notions of what failure means and explore in what ways concepts of failure change. Anglistik Universität Duisburg-Essen SoSe 2015 Dr. Meinel Dietmar