If at First You Don’t Succeed?: Writing, Rhetoric, and the Question of Failure

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.

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.