The Millions : Paul Murray on Epic Fail

Skip to Navigation
Skip to Content

Curiosities

Paul Murray on Epic Fail

By C. Max Magee posted at 11:07 am on January 24, 2013 0

“‘There’s no success like failure,’ Bob Dylan once sang – but he couldn’t have envisaged the international notoriety that bad art would achieve in the digital age. Mark O’Connell’s Epic Fail gleefully hops genres and centuries in a quest to understand our obsession with lameness. Clever, profound, bitingly funny, it’s a brilliant analysis from one of the smartest new critics around.” — Paul Murray, author of Skippy Dies

Share this article

More from the Millions

Post a Response

Comments with unrelated links will be deleted. If you'd like to reach our readers, consider buying an advertisement instead.

Anonymous and pseudonymous comments that do not add to the conversation will be deleted at our discretion.

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

C. Max Magee created and edits The Millions. He is co-editor of the collection of essays The Late American Novel: Writers on the Future of Books, called "funny, poignant, relentlessly thought-provoking" by The Atlantic. He has appeared on NPR’s “Weekend Edition”, Minnesota Public Radio’s “Midmorning”, and ABC Radio National's "The Book Show" and has written for a number of publications. He and his family live in New Jersey. If you'd like to correspond, please don't hesitate to email.

Don't miss: A Year in Reading 2012,
2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005
Best of the Millennium; Readers' List

A new way to browse The Millions! Books and Reviews

Bookmark these links to stay on top of the hottest books:
Hot 100 | Awards | Movers & Shakers | Bargain Books | Kindle Bestsellers

Subscribe to RSS feeds for new releases: Literary fiction (for Kindle) | Biography | Graphic Novels | Food | History | Nonfiction | Science | Travel | New Release RSS Feeds for Movies, Music and More

More From Curiosities

Kid-Friendly May 24, 2013
Neuroscience and Creativity May 24, 2013
Orwell in Burma May 24, 2013
Real Hard May 24, 2013
‘Bout Goddamn Time May 24, 2013
View All

Other Recent Articles

The Chemistry between Fiction and Reality: The Millions Interviews Ramona Ausubel May 24, 2013
Free to Be Depressed and Alone: On George Packer’s The Unwinding May 23, 2013
Nothing Funnier Than Unhappiness: A Necessarily Ill-Informed Argument for Flann O’Brien’s The Poor Mouth as the Funniest Book Ever Written May 22, 2013
At the Frontiers of the Unsayable: Bennett Sims’s A Questionable Shape May 21, 2013
George Saunders and the Question of Greatness May 20, 2013
View All

Recent Comments

kate says "Dang it. I knew there was a reason that I felt guilty for thinking Jimmy McMillan was hilarious."Kai and Uncle Ruslan: When Memes Go Dark
C. Max Magee says "Thanks Sarah, we’ve fixed."Free to Be Depressed and Alone: On George Packer’s The Unwinding
sarah winterfield says "…and another thing lost: the ability of our citizenry to write, even spell, our own language. Note..."Free to Be Depressed and Alone: On George Packer’s The Unwinding
Michael DuBose says "Dominic, I think you got to the crux of the matter when you asked “where in the movie . . . .”..."Judging Luhrmann’s Gatsby: Five English Scholars Weigh In
PT Smith says "Thanks for this. When you like an author,..."Nothing Funnier Than Unhappiness: A Necessarily Ill-Informed Argument for Flann O’Brien’s The Poor Mouth as the Funniest Book Ever Written

Advertise now on The Millions and other book sites!