IF THE HETEROSEXUAL Caucasian male novelist has made a unique contribution to the field of contemporary American literary fiction if he has, so to speak, a story of his own that is the story of the loser. Wallace, Franzen, Lipsyte, Shteyngart, Eggers, Moody, Lethem each of these writers has, to varying degrees, contributed to the creation of the full-spectrum loser (FSL), a man whose chronic failings and humiliations encompass every sphere of human endeavor, who embodies the very ethos of failure, whose story offers no redemption, enlightenment, catharsis, or even sentiment. Theoretically, we might recognize that the straight white male doesnt hold the exclusive copyright on loserdom that visible minority group members, wom…
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