Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 39, No. 279.
Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
Hosted by DH-Cologne
www.dhhumanist.org
Submit to: humanist@dhhumanist.org
Date: 2025-12-31 12:12:53+00:00
From: Mcgann, Jerome (jjm2f) <jjm2f@virginia.edu>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 39.277: In the wake of failure found & surviving the past celebrated
I should probably note that the experiences and operations of “failure” have
been at the heart of my work from the outset, though they only became its major
focus when John came to direct IATH in the early 90s. The topic runs through,
often explicitly, in much of my work from my 1988 Clark Lectures Towards a
Literature of Knowledge forward (the lectures were published in 1989). The
issue is the main subject of this essay, which is consciously modeled on Henry
Adams’ majestic autobiography.
“The Poverty of Theory; or, The Education of Jerome McGann,” Theory Development
in the Human Sciences, ed. Diane H. Sonnenwald (U. of Texas Press: Austin, TX,
2016): 241-263.
The work of two English poets, Blake and Byron, set my basic frame of reference
in the 1960s. Los(s) is Blake’s key artificer, and his task is to oversee the
building of the mythic structure/city Golgonooza where he sets about "Giving a
body to Falshood that it may be cast off for ever”, allowing the emergence of
the redeemed human city, Jerusalem (the story is told in his illuminated work
Jerusalem as well as other works, especially The Four Zoas (his great , never
illuminated or printed, “failure” that, in my judgment, is in a salient view his
greatest single work.
The career of Byron (from spectacular success to catastrophic failure) was
remapped in his cultural history: from his 19th c pre-eminence to his virtual
disappearance in the 20th c until the shift began in the late 1950s because of
Leslie Marchand’s work. For me one of his greatest watchwords is this couplet
from Don Juan: “In play there are two pleasures for your choosing/ The one is
winning and the other, losing”.
And of course Swinburne’s work and career have fascinated me as well for a very
long time. One of his finest works, “A Vision of Spring in Winter”, is a
meditation on “the importance of failure”.
Jerry
From: Humanist <humanist@dhhumanist.org>
Date: Wednesday, December 31, 2025 at 3:57 AM
To: Mcgann, Jerome (jjm2f) <jjm2f@virginia.edu>
Subject: [Humanist] 39.277: In the wake of failure found & surviving the past
celebrated
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 39, No. 277.
Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
Hosted by DH-Cologne
www.dhhumanist.org<http://www.dhhumanist.org>
Submit to: humanist@dhhumanist.org
[1] From: Sheldon Richmond <askthephilosopher@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 39.275: In the Wake of Failure (52)
[2] From: maurizio lana <maurizio.lana@uniupo.it>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 39.275: In the Wake of Failure (20)
[3] From: Sheldon Richmond <askthephilosopher@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 39.275: In the Wake of Failure (3)
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2025-12-30 12:40:54+00:00
From: Sheldon Richmond <askthephilosopher@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 39.275: In the Wake of Failure
Dear Willard,
Would it be possible to obtain an electronic copy of the failure paper you
mention?
Best regards, and congratulations on keeping the “Humanist” alive and
thriving for so many years.
Respectfully,
Sheldon
Sheldon Richmond
Independent Scholar, PhD
On Tue, Dec 30, 2025 at 3:40 AM Humanist <humanist@dhhumanist.org> wrote:
>
> Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 39, No. 275.
> Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
> Hosted by DH-Cologne
> www.dhhumanist.org<http://www.dhhumanist.org>
> Submit to: humanist@dhhumanist.org
>
>
>
>
> Date: 2025-12-28 16:52:42+00:00
> From: scholar-at-large@bell.net <scholar-at-large@bell.net>
> Subject: In the Wake of Failure
>
> Willard
>
> Sorting through some boxes of documents, I came across a printout of John
> Unsworth’s 1997 paper, The Importance of Failure.
>
> It opens with a sharp observation: “If an electronic scholarly project
> can’t
> fail and doesn’t produce new ignorance, then it isn’t worth a damn.”
>
> The paper then methodically details a set of questions that would be
> responsive
> to such a situation. Its peroration calls on Karl Popper to the effect
> “that our
> knowledge can only be finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be
> infinite.”
>
> I wonder how in the years that have followed how diligent scholars have
> been in
> documenting failures…
>
>
> François
--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2025-12-30 18:11:07+00:00
From: maurizio lana <maurizio.lana@uniupo.it>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 39.275: In the Wake of Failure
the article is
Unsworth, John. «Documenting the Reinvention of Text: The Importance of
Failure». Journal of Electronic Publishing 3, fasc. 2 (1 dicembre 1997).
https://doi.org/10.3998/3336451.0003.201.
Maurizio
-----
μνάσασθαί τινά φαιμι †καὶ ἕτερον† ἀμμέων
sono certa che qualcuno si ricorderà di noi anche quando ce ne saremo andati
I’m sure someone will remember us even when we’re gone
Saffo, Lobel-Page 147
-----
Maurizio Lana
Università del Piemonte Orientale
Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici
Piazza Roma 36 - 13100 Vercelli
--[3]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2025-12-30 16:19:12+00:00
From: Sheldon Richmond <askthephilosopher@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 39.275: In the Wake of Failure
Not to bother Willard. I used Google Scholar and found the e-text there.
Thanks—Sheldon
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