The Subtleties of Failure

Literary Activism is a project that began in 2014 with a series of annual symposia.

- AKANKSHYA ABISMRUTA

The project aims to create a space for creative and critical discussions and intervention beyond commercial publishing, literary festivals and traditional academia. It brings together numerous national and international poets, novelists, translators, artists, journalists, scholars, filmmakers and publishers.

On Failing, edited by Amit Chaudhuri, is a collection of eight essays and one short story presented at the fifth symposium in February 2020.

On Failing, as is evident from its title, explores the concept of failure and the space (or the lack thereof) it occupies today. In the mission statement, Mr. Chaudhuri describes the relationship between creative practice and the necessity of failure. He writes, "...we might conspire to succeed only to a degree that's necessary for us to fail: because we know that it's only by failing that we can produce viable work, and only by succeeding to some extent we can have the freedom to be non-viable. Failure has not only no dignity in the post-free market world we inhabit; it has no legitimacy, no vocabulary for self-appraisal."

The contributors include Tiffany Atkinson, Michel Chaouli, Ranajit Das, Amit Chaudhuri, Sunetra Gupta, Anurag Kashyap, and Lydia Davis. The essays are neither academic nor commercial. They are likely to interest the reader on account of the writers' creative approaches to locate failures.

The collection begins with an immersive essay by Chancy Martin, "Suicide a Sort of Failure". Mr. Martin narrates the experience of waking up in a hospital after a failed suicide attempt. He uses