THE LIMITATIONS OF "SELF-MADE MEN". FREDERICK DOUGLASS, AUTHOBIOGRAPHIC MANAGEMENT OF SUCCESS AND THE PROBLEM OF A "FAILED LIFE"

The phrase "self-made men" had a fundamental role in 19th-century discourse in the United States. This and other similar phrases are still key in contemporary ideas on personal success and failure. This article studies the use of this expression in the autobiographical works of abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass, and particularly his famous speech titled "Self-made Men". The main objective is analyzing the limits of representations of individual success, together with the communitarian dynamics and ideas against racism that curb or even unauthorize those representations. This analysis leads to a reflection on the difficulties to theorize a failed live and, more generally, to conceptualize individual failure historically.