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ABOUT THE BOOK
A SEARING EXPLORATION OF FAILURE—PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL—THROUGH THE LENS OF DOCUMENTARY FILM AND THE PRISM OF SELF
In Failure Is the Only Subject, we encounter David Shields—memoirist, novelist, and filmmaker—undergoing psychoanalysis in the aftermath of divorce and in the throes of an addictive new relationship. Struggling to piece his life back together, Shields watches (and rewatches) documentaries about human disappointment by such groundbreaking directors as Werner Herzog, Errol Morris, Ross McElwee, Kitty Green, Adam Curtis, and Michael Winterbottom.
Contemplating the filmmakers’ choices, Shields asks painful questions about his life, any life, life itself. What happens when the mask falls off and we come face-to-face with the abyss within? Is there a way to bear such harrowing knowledge—about ourselves and the world? Renowned for his discomfiting candor, Shields is at his best here: unsparing in his scrutiny.
PRAISE FOR FAILURE IS THE ONLY SUBJECT
“Shields’s tone and style merge here through what I can only call wisdom, the paradox of energetic melancholia: all equilibrium is only temporary. A very fine piece of humanity, set down in text.”—Ewan Morrison, author of Nina X
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Shields is the New York Times bestselling author of Reality Hunger, which Lit Hub named one of the most important books of the last decade. He has written and directed several documentaries; his new film, The Trouble with Men—loosely adapted from Reality Hunger—will be released in 2027.
BOOK INFO
Pub Date: February 23, 2027
Print Length: 134 pages
Dimensions: 5 × 8 inches
ISBN: 978-1-957392-42-4
ABOUT THE BOOK
A SEARING EXPLORATION OF FAILURE—PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL—THROUGH THE LENS OF DOCUMENTARY FILM AND THE PRISM OF SELF
In Failure Is the Only Subject, we encounter David Shields—memoirist, novelist, and filmmaker—undergoing psychoanalysis in the aftermath of divorce and in the throes of an addictive new relationship. Struggling to piece his life back together, Shields watches (and rewatches) documentaries about human disappointment by such groundbreaking directors as Werner Herzog, Errol Morris, Ross McElwee, Kitty Green, Adam Curtis, and Michael Winterbottom.
Contemplating the filmmakers’ choices, Shields asks painful questions about his life, any life, life itself. What happens when the mask falls off and we come face-to-face with the abyss within? Is there a way to bear such harrowing knowledge—about ourselves and the world? Renowned for his discomfiting candor, Shields is at his best here: unsparing in his scrutiny.
PRAISE FOR FAILURE IS THE ONLY SUBJECT
“Shields’s tone and style merge here through what I can only call wisdom, the paradox of energetic melancholia: all equilibrium is only temporary. A very fine piece of humanity, set down in text.”—Ewan Morrison, author of Nina X
tk
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Shields is the New York Times bestselling author of Reality Hunger, which Lit Hub named one of the most important books of the last decade. He has written and directed several documentaries; his new film, The Trouble with Men—loosely adapted from Reality Hunger—will be released in 2027.
BOOK INFO
Pub Date: February 23, 2027
Print Length: 134 pages
Dimensions: 5 × 8 inches
ISBN: 978-1-957392-42-4