Status Updates From Losers

Can anyone recommend a book about failure. Preferably 19th century lit wherein a character fails/is a failure or else criticism/theory that addresses failure as a concept. Bonus points for literary/scholarly failure in particular. But anything at all that you think is interesting on the subject would be useful.

Can anyone recommend any books that address failure? I'm specifically looking for 19th century novels that address literary or scholarly failure, or else critical works addressing the concept within literature, but anything wherein failure plays a significant role is of interest to me :)