WILLIAM GADDIS

Syllabus, English 241, Literature of Failure

"I know you, I know you. You're the only serious person in the room, aren't
you, the only one who understands, and you can prove it by the fact that you've
never finished a single thing in your life. You're the only well-educated person,
because you never went to college, and you resent education, you resent social
ease, you resent good manners, you resent success, you resent any kind of suc-
cess, you resent God, you resent Christ, you resent thousand-dollar bills, you
resent Christmas, by God, you resent happiness, you resent happiness itself,
because none of that's real. What is real, then? Nothing's real to you that isn't
part of your own past, real life, a swamp of failures, of social, sexual, financial,
personal... spiritual failure."
William Gaddis, The Recognitions
William Gaddis taught at Bard College in 1979. His English 241 was called
"Literature of Failure." Reproduced on the facing page is the class's reading list,
with Gaddis's annotations. The list is reprinted courtesy ofthe Estate of William
Gaddis and the Department of Special Collections at Olin Library, Washington
University in St. Louis.
116 WILLIAM GADDIS
LITBHATOFE OF FAILDR
READING LIST
Pra~Ecly, Mi l s NOTK
Tha ' a l i f l t ' In Anerlca's Tain syst ea
MM Waber, THE PROTSSTUiT ETHIC AD THE SPIPIT
0? CAPIIALISM
Puritan and CalTlnlst teachings as a oral
foundation for the Mrgence of eapl t al l s
Edward Bellaay LOOKING BACKWARD
LJlAt^ Ii9)t> Bat>y tapian nTat ..-.,
I f - f
5 7
6 ^
7 -> 5
8 9
10 (0
11 11
12 I-
Oet 3
Upton Si ncl ai r, THE JTOIGLE .t
The cl shtaare side of the 'survlTal of the f i t t e s t ' '
Oct ld<-- -"-pal Carnegie, HOW TO WDi Ki'IEiDS AND DiFLaCE PEOPLE
^ \ L '^ "lgarliad appl i cati on of pragut l s B for gain
Oct 17 j ' John Holt, HOW CHILDRra FAIL
) ' Bdncatlon's f al se sol ntl ons to f al s e valaas
Oct 31r
Oct 2>t- ^Al an S l l l i t o a , THE LONELDIESS OF THE LOkG DISTAKCE
RUHNER
Failure as rebel l i on in a cl ass soci et y ( s t ori es )
^ [Myra Frledaan, BDPIED ALIVE (story of Janis Joplln)
>/ | _ Destructive ' success' in the ' s i z t i as
hov 7'^ I rborl s Keams, LYI.D JOHNSON AMD THE ABEHICAN DREAM
M Pol l t l aa, power, i dal i s a, the overweening aga
L and Aaerlca's greatest hi st ori c humiliation
NOT lit Sue Kaufaan, DIARY OF A MAD HOSgWIFE
The woaan who ' can' t cope' , and why
ROT 28 A. Al varei , THE SAVAGE GOD
Sylvia Plath arid others, sui ci de and f ai l ure
Dec 5 Joan Dldlon, PLAY IT AS IT UTS
The Importance of f i ct i ons however tawdry in
dealing with the ultimate 'nothing'
Dee 12 Final papers due
Dec 19 Discussion and suanary
REVIEWOF CONTEMPORARY FICTION 117
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