If at First You Don't Succeed? Writing, Rhetoric, and the Question of Failure
Edited by Steven J. Corbett
Copy edited by Samantha Maloney. Designed by Mike Palmquist.
What does it mean to fail at an important performance, to be a failure, or to fail someone at something? Failure is a universal concept widely applicable to every aspect of writing studies. Perhaps it is the most universal concept applicable to writing studies (or life, for that matter). But what it means to fail can mean vastly different things to vastly different people at vastly different times. In this edited collection, 25 writing studies scholars use failure as a conceptual lens to reflect on their experiences as scholars and teachers. Their contributions address historical and theoretical treatments of failure, offer case studies of failure in teaching and research, and share brief (but bitter/sweet) narratives drawn from personal experiences in the field.
Table of Contents
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Introduction. Choice, Control, and Performance: Writing Studies and the Rhetoric of Failure, Steven J. Corbett
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.1.3
Part 1. Historicizing and Theorizing Failure
Chapter 1. A Genealogy of Failure, Paul Cook
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.2.01
Chapter 2. Counterpoint: Why Not Intellectual Risk?, Alexis Teagarden, Justin Mando, and Carolyn Commer
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.2.02
Chapter 3. Theorizing Failure Through Teacher Response, Shane A. Wood
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.2.03
Part 2. Case Studies and Professional Profiles of Failure in Action
Chapter 4. Fail Memes and Writing as Performance: Popular Portrayals
of Writing in Internet Culture, Ruth Mirtz
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.2.04
Chapter 5. “I’m a Bad Writer”: How Students’ Mindsets Influence Their Writing Processes and Performances, Laura K. Miller
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.2.05
Chapter 6. Recognizing Feminist Resilience Rather Than Seeking Success in Response to Failure, Karen R. Tellez-Trujillo
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.2.06
Chapter 7. Teaching to Fail? Three Female Faculty Narratives about the Racial and Gender Inequalities of SETs, Mary Lourdes Silva, Josephine Walwema, and Suzie Null
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.2.07
Part 3. Short (But Bitter/Sweet) Narrative Snippets of Failure
Chapter 8. Imposter, Performer, Professional, Teagan Decker
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.2.08
Chapter 9. Self-Sponsored Writing & Academicized Space in FYW (Or, A Failure in Three Moves), Tyler Gillespie
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.2.09
Chapter 10. The Afterlife of Unfinished Writing, William Duffy
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.2.10
Chapter 11. In Pursuit of Industry Knowledge: Always Learning by Often Failing, Michael Horton
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.2.11
Chapter 12. Opening Doors to the Ivory Tower: Helping Students Feel Welcome to Engage in Academic Discourse, Sean Fenty
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.2.12
Chapter 13. Standardized Test Writing and the Fear of Failing, Elizabeth Blomstedt
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.2.13
Chapter 14. Failure to Launch? Theorizing Rhetorics of Rejection from Graduate Student Perspectives, Jerrice Donelson and Anicca Cox
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.2.14
Chapter 15. The CV of Failure: Making Rejection Visible and Cultivating Growth Mindsets in Doctoral Writers, Dana Lynn Driscoll
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.2.15
Chapter 16. Reaping What You Sow: Reframing Academic Rejection as a Community Garden for Writing Studies, Laura Decker
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.2.16
Chapter 17. Using X as Applied Learning in a First-Year Writing Classroom, Jeffrey L. Jackson
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.2.17
Chapter 18. “Trust the Process”: Dissertation Gatekeeping, Failure, and Graduate Student Writing, Mario A. D’Agostino
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.2.18
Afterword. Failure: A Dwelling, Allison D. Carr
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494.3.2
About the Editor
Steven J. Corbett is Associate Professor of Composition & Rhetoric; Division Head of Communication, Composition & Rhetoric; and Writing Program Administrator at Methodist University. From 2016-2023, he was an Associate Professor of English and Director of the QEP at Texas A&M University at Kingsville. He is the author of Beyond Dichotomy: Synergizing Writing Center and Classroom Pedagogies (2015) and co-editor of Peer Pressure, Peer Power: Theory and Practice in Peer Review and Response for the Writing Classroom (2014); Student Peer Review and Response: A Critical Sourcebook (2018); Writing In and About the Performing and Visual Arts: Creating, Performing, and Teaching (2019); and Writing Centers and Learning Commons: Staying Centered While Sharing Common Ground (2023). His articles on writing pedagogy have appeared in a variety of journals, periodicals, and collections.
Publication Information: Corbett, Steven J. (Ed.). (2024). If at First You Don’t Succeed? Writing, Rhetoric, and
the Question of Failure. The WAC Clearinghouse; University Press of Colorado. https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494
Web Publication Date: December 9, 2024
Print Publication Date: Pending
ISBN: 978-1-64215-249-4 (PDF) 978-1-64215-250-0 (ePub) 978-1-64642-735-2 (pbk.)
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2024.2494
Contact Information:
Steven J. Corbett: scorbett@methodist.edu
Perspectives on Writing
Series Editors: Rich Rice, Texas Tech University, and J. Michael Rifenburg, University of North Georgia
This book is available in whole and in part in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). It will also be available in a low-cost print edition from our publishing partner, the University Press of Colorado.
Copyright © 2024 Steven J. Corbett and the authors of individual parts of this book. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License. 244 pages, with notes, figures, and bibliographies. This book will also be available in print from University Press of Colorado as well as from any online or brick-and-mortar bookstore. Available in digital format for no charge on this page at the WAC Clearinghouse. You may view this book. You may print personal copies of this book. You may link to this page. You may not reproduce this book on another website. For permission requests and other questions, such as creating a translation, please contact the copyright holder.