I first heard about the concept of loser lit in a piece by Kate Christensen at salon.com.  She subtitled her article: “In praise of the cranky, misanthropic, uncompromising nobodies of literature—may they screw up forever” and then proceeded to list a lot of my favorite books.  They’re all about people (usually men) who sabotage themselves repeatedly and unrepentantly, resulting in a downward spiral that is sometimes hilarious but always disastrously entertaining.  Here are a few of the best of the genre:

Wake Up, Sir!
Jonathan Ames

Work Shirts for Madmen
George Singleton

A Fan’s Notes
Frederick Exley

Jernigan
David Gates

Lucky Jim
Kingsley Amis
(a British classic of the genre)

Dear American Airlines
Jonathan Miles

A Gentleman’s Guide to Graceful Living
Michael Dahlie
(for which the author recently won a $50,000 Whiting Award)

Bridget Jones’s Diary
Helen Fielding
(with one of the few female loser lit protagonists)

-Beth

One Response to “Book review: Loser Lit”

1. Mickey Rickshaw says:

   January 19, 2011 at 11:48 am

   My contribution: YOU CAN’T WIN by “Jack Black”
   http://www.amazon.com/You-Cant-Win-Jack-Black/dp/9562915093/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1295455660&sr=8-1

   Reply