: The Cultural Context of the Failure Theme in Fiction, and the Purpose of this Study Narrative Identity and Failure in Short Fiction Failure in the Novel: A Small Tale, Generally of Love The Trivial, and the Novel as ‘a Small Tale’ Personal Failure and the Political (I): Irish Fictions Failure and the Observance of the Ordinary Personal and the Political (II): Postcolonial Results: Failure, Identity, and the Ordinary Transitional Section: Failing Aspirations of Humanism The Failing Artist in a Short Story Cycle The Fictional Artist and His Failing in the Novel Intermediate Results Partial Failure: Divergence of Art and Life Failure and Triumph of the Fictional Artist in the Novel: A Paradox Irony and Black Humour: Artistic Failure vs. Celebrity Success and Failure in 21st-Century Biofictions Conclusion