Biographical Dictionary of Literary Failure, The - Softcover

C.D. Rose

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1612194621 ISBN 13: 9781612194622

Publisher: MELVILLE HOUSE PUBLISHING, 2015

Synopsis

A complete compendium of failed writers from A to Z, which is both tragic and darkly hilarious. The Biographical Dictionary Of Literary Failure is essential reading for anyone who has ever wondered about all the writers who never made it onto the shelves of a bookshop, and all the great writers and their works, who remain unknown. Meet Ernst Bellmer, the bibliophage. For Bellmer, the aesthetic act was not complete unless his words, once committed to paper, were then eaten. Unfortunately for him, he died of ink poisoning, and left no trace of his life's work.

About this title

Review:

'The miniature biographies of these failed writers, who have so much to teach us about life, literature, and mental illness, are compiled in a mesmerizing and hilarious little book... Edited by C. D. Rose, the collection contains nothing but a Borgesian archive of literary failure in all its depressing splendour.' - Flavorwire

'An anthology that cleverly calls out the ways in which we dramatize--and idolize - the lives of authors, successful and not.' - The Huffington Post

'A funny look at literary legends who, for one reason or another, managed to fall into oblivion.' - --Jen Campbell, author of The Bookshop Book and Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops

'Offers us a shadow history of literature... Whether the subject is Icarus-like or more of a Walter Mitty, Rose's writing is unfailingly sympathetic and inventive.' - --Workshy Fop

'The Biographical Dictionary of Literary Failure, born as a website that reported on a new failure each week and then symbolically deleted each entry a year after publication, brings together the stories of 51 such literary misfits and grants them the debatable dignity of recording their tales of woe for posterity.' - an extract from the book appeared on the Foyles Blog

'My personal favourite in this genre has to be The Biographical Dictionary of Literary Failure... a glorious alphabetical compendium of those who never achieved greatness.' - --Stuart Kelly, Books of the Year, The Scotsman

About the Author:

C. D. ROSE was born in the north of England and studied in several of that country's elite universities, including the University of East Anglia, where he went to do an M.A. in creative writing, and Edge Hill University, where he is at work on a Ph.D. His research into great lost literary works drew him on to live and work in several different countries, including Italy, France, Russia and the United States, where he enjoyed a number of encounters with curious authorial personalities. His research interests have not abated, and now, though based in England, he continues to travel in an unending quest for that one elusive, perfect tale.

About this edition

• Publisher: MELVILLE HOUSE PUBLISHING
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1612194621
• ISBN 13: 9781612194622
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192