“Failure is a matter of choice”: the loser subjectivity in self-help literature

Abstract

In this paper, based on the analysis of “Só é fracassado quem quer”, a self-help literature book written by Thomas Morgan and published in Brazil in 1989, I problematize the recent incorporation of the derogatory speech about failure in this country, which is perceived not as an outcome of a specific social context, but as individual inadequacy. For such, I start by approaching a striking figure in American culture: the loser, found in many of its cultural products and often translated as “fracassado” in Brazil. The “fracassado”, in this sense, symbolizes the one who has not succeeded in an alleged world of opportunities widespread by the imagery of success that is reflected in the ethos of contemporary self-help.