When in 1999 I began writing for The New York Review of Books ... my stance became that of the ingenuous Martian who had just landed on a gorgeous alien planet ... Montaigne's que sais-je. A little light, a little wonder, some skepticism, some awe, some squinting, some je ne sais quoi. Pick a thing up, study it, shake it, skip it across a still surface to see how much felt and lively life got baked into it. Does it sail? Observe. See what can be done.
Lorrie Moore has been writing criticism for over thirty years, and her forensically intelligent, witty, and engaging essays are collected together here for the first time. Whether writing on Titanic, Margaret Atwood, or The Wire, her pieces always offer elegant and surprising insights into multiple forms of art. Crucially, Moore is a practitioner who writes criticism; her discussion of other people's work is based on her understanding of what it really takes to make something out of nothing: of what it takes to make art. This lends her encounters with books, films, and paintings the uniquely intimate quality which has made them so immensely popular with readers.
In sparkling, articulate prose - studded with frequently hilarious insights - Moore's meditations are a rare opportunity to witness a brilliant mind thinking things through and figuring things out on the page.
Lorrie Moore has been writing criticism for over thirty years, and her forensically intelligent, witty, and engaging essays are collected together here for the first time. Whether writing on Titanic, Margaret Atwood, or The Wire, her pieces always offer elegant and surprising insights into multiple forms of art. Crucially, Moore is a practitioner who writes criticism; her discussion of other people's work is based on her understanding of what it really takes to make something out of nothing: of what it takes to make art. This lends her encounters with books, films, and paintings the uniquely intimate quality which has made them so immensely popular with readers.
In sparkling, articulate prose - studded with frequently hilarious insights - Moore's meditations are a rare opportunity to witness a brilliant mind thinking things through and figuring things out on the page.
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Used availability for Lorrie Moore's See What Can Be Done
Hardback Editions
May 2018 : UK Hardback
April 2018 : USA Hardback
April 2018 : USA Hardback
Paperback Editions
March 2019 : UK Paperback
March 2019 : USA Paperback
March 2019 : USA Paperback

Title: See What Can Be Done: Essays, Criticism, and Commentary
Author(s): Lorrie Moore
ISBN: 0-385-69395-8 / 978-0-385-69395-0 (USA edition)
Publisher: Anchor Canada
Availability: Amazon CA
Audio Editions
April 2018 : USA Audio CD
April 2018 : USA Audio CD
April 2018 : USA MP3 CD
April 2018 : USA Audio edition

Title: See What Can Be Done: Essays, Criticism, and Commentary
Author(s): Lorrie Moore
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Availability: Amazon
April 2018 : Australia Audio edition

Title: See What Can Be Done: Essays, Criticism, and Commentary
Author(s): Lorrie Moore
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Availability: Amazon AU
April 2018 : Canada Audio edition

Title: See What Can Be Done: Essays, Criticism, and Commentary
Author(s): Lorrie Moore
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Availability: Amazon CA
April 2018 : UK Audio edition

Title: See What Can Be Done: Essays, Criticism, and Commentary
Author(s): Lorrie Moore
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Availability: Amazon UK
Kindle Editions
May 2018 : Australia, UK Kindle edition
April 2018 : USA Kindle edition

Title: See What Can Be Done: Essays, Criticism, and Commentary
Author(s): Lorrie Moore
Publisher: Vintage
Availability: Amazon
April 2018 : Canada Kindle edition

Title: See What Can Be Done: Essays, Criticism, and Commentary
Author(s): Lorrie Moore
Publisher: Bond Street Books
Availability: Amazon CA