Failure Is the Only Subject - by David Shields (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

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.

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.