Steven Moore (US author)
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Steven Moore (born May 15, 1951) is an American author and literary critic. Best known as an authority on the novels of
William Gaddis William Thomas Gaddis, Jr. (December 29, 1922 – December 16, 1998) was an American novelist. The first and longest of his five novels, ''The Recognitions'', was named one of TIME magazine's 100 best novels from 1923 to 2005 and two othe ...
, he is also the author of the two-volume study ''The Novel: An Alternative History.''


Biography/Career

Born outside of
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
to Maurice P. and Mary Moore, Steven Moore moved to
Littleton, Colorado Littleton is a home rule municipality city located in Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties, Colorado, United States. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistica ...
, in 1963, where he attended Arapahoe High School (1966–69). During this time he played bass guitar in Earthquake Moving Company, the first of many rock bands he would participate in until 1975, often featuring his own compositions. His first literary writings were poems contributed to college literary magazines. In his junior year, he switched majors from history to English, earning both a B.A. (1973) and an M.A. (1974) from the
University of Northern Colorado The University of Northern Colorado (UNC) is a public university in Greeley, Colorado. The university was founded in 1889 as the State Normal School of Colorado and has a long history in teacher education. The institution has officially changed ...
in Greeley. From 1974 until 1977 he worked as a substitute teacher while writing a novel (''Clarinets and Candles'', unpublished) and the beginnings of a second. From 1974 to 1978 he was also a member of the Colorado Concert Ballet, dancing a variety of minor roles. Unable to find a full-time teaching position, he began working at ABC Books in Denver in 1976. Two years later he opened his own
independent bookstore An independent bookstore is a retail bookstore which is independently owned. Usually, independent stores consist of only a single actual store (although there are some multi-store independents). They may be structured as sole proprietorships, cl ...
, Moore Books, which he operated until selling it in 1981. During this time, he published his first works of literary criticism: a series of short notes on
James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
’s ''
Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish literature, Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction whi ...
'' in ''A Wake Newslitter'', and book reviews for a Denver arts magazine called ''Spree''. He also wrote his first book, ''A Readers Guide to William Gaddis's "The Recognitions"'', published by the
University of Nebraska Press The University of Nebraska Press, also known as UNP, was founded in 1941 and is an academic publisher of scholarly and general-interest books. The press is under the auspices of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the main campus of the Univer ...
in 1982. This was followed by ''In Recognition of William Gaddis'', a collection of essays by various hands, for which he wrote the introduction and contributed an essay. Co-edited with John Kuehl, it was published by
Syracuse University Press Syracuse University Press, founded in 1943, is a university press that is part of Syracuse University. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. History SUP was formed in August 1943 when president William P. Tolley prom ...
in 1984. A brief interest in vampire literature led to an anthology Moore edited titled ''Vampire in Verse'', which was published in 1985. In 1983, Moore returned to college to earn a Ph.D., first at
University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...
, then at
Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
in New Jersey, where he graduated in 1988. His dissertation was published the following year as ''William Gaddis'' by
Twayne Publishers Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007. The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale Gro ...
. During these years he continued to write essays for scholarly journals and book reviews for a variety of publications. (See list of publications, below.) Again unable to find a teaching position, in 1988 Moore joined the staff of
Dalkey Archive Press Dalkey Archive Press is an American publisher of fiction, poetry, foreign translations and literary criticism specializing in the publication or republication of lesser-known, often avant-garde works. The company has offices in Funks Grove, Il ...
, a press in Illinois that also published ''The Review of Contemporary Fiction'', to which he had contributed in the past. In 1996, Dalkey published Moore's ''Ronald Firbank: An Annotated Bibliography of Secondary Materials''. Moore was managing editor of the ''Review of Contemporary Fiction'' during this same period (1988–1996), to which he contributed many essays and book reviews. Beginning in 1990, Moore also started reviewing new fiction for newspapers, principally for the ''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', but also for ''
The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'', ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'', and the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', along with reviews in scholarly journals. Moore was let go from Dalkey Archive Press in 1996 and continued in the book trade by joining
Borders Books and Music A border is a geographical boundary. Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film * ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...
later that year. After working at its first Colorado store for four years, he was promoted to book buyer for the entire chain and moved to
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...
in 2001. That same year, his edition of ''Beerspit Night and Cursing: The Correspondence of Charles Bukowski and Sheri Martinelli'' was published by (
Black Sparrow Press Black Sparrow Press is a New England based independent book publisher, known for literary fiction and poetry. History Black Sparrow was founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1966 by John Martin in order to publish the works of Charles Bukowski ...
). In addition to his buying duties, Moore was the editor of the Borders Classics line (2003-5). He was laid off in January 2010, though he continues to reside in Ann Arbor. Since then, he has supported himself as a freelance indexer for university presses. In early 2004, Moore began writing a two-volume survey entitled ''The Novel: An Alternative History'', with special attention to innovative works; the first volume appeared in April 2010 from Continuum Books . Reviewing it in the ''Washington Post'',
Alberto Manguel Alberto Manguel (born March 13, 1948, in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine-Canadian anthologist, translator, essayist, novelist, editor, and a former Director of the National Library of Argentina. He is the author of numerous non-fiction books such ...
wrote, "Moore tells his story with erudition and wit, and in doing so restores to the reader of good fiction confidence in the craft." In the ''New York Review of Books'',
Tim Parks Timothy Harold Parks (born 19 December 1954) is a British novelist, translator, author and professor of literature. Career He is the author of eighteen novels (notably ''Europa'', which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1997). His first ...
disliked its "gung ho tone" but concluded, "Moore's book has the great merit of listing and summarizing scores upon scores of stories" and that "reading these summaries is a pleasure." The second volume, covering the period 1600–1800, was published by Bloomsbury in August 2013, and won the Christian Gauss Award for literary criticism for that year. Moore is the world's leading authority on the novels of
William Gaddis William Thomas Gaddis, Jr. (December 29, 1922 – December 16, 1998) was an American novelist. The first and longest of his five novels, ''The Recognitions'', was named one of TIME magazine's 100 best novels from 1923 to 2005 and two othe ...
, which he discovered in 1975 and about whom he has written several books and essays. He was the guest speaker at two Gaddis symposia (
Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, 2000, and
Buffalo, NY Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
, 2005), and assisted with the Chinese translation of Gaddis's ''
J R ''J R'' is a novel by William Gaddis published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1975. In the story, a schoolboy secretly amasses a fortune in penny stocks. ''J R'' won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1976.Dalkey Archive Press Dalkey Archive Press is an American publisher of fiction, poetry, foreign translations and literary criticism specializing in the publication or republication of lesser-known, often avant-garde works. The company has offices in Funks Grove, Il ...
in February 2013. Moore has long championed lengthy, innovative novels: as he told an interviewer, "generally I like 'em big and brainy." Novelist
Jonathan Franzen Jonathan Earl Franzen (born August 17, 1959) is an American novelist and essayist. His 2001 novel ''The Corrections'', a sprawling, satirical family drama, drew widespread critical acclaim, earned Franzen a National Book Award, was a Pulitzer Pr ...
wrote that Moore is a "scholar whose criticism is a model of clarity and intelligent advocacy."Franzen, Jonathan, ''How to Be Alone'' (2003), p. 261.


Notes


Publications


Books

* ''A Reader's Guide to William Gaddis's "The Recognitions''." University of Nebraska Press, 1982; rev. 1995
Online HTML
(German translation, Frankfurt: Zweitausendeins, 1998.) * ''William Gaddis''. Twayne, 1989
Online PDF
Expanded edition: Bloomsbury, 2015. * ''Ronald Firbank: An Annotated Bibliography of Secondary Materials, 1905–1995''. Dalkey Archive Press, 1996. * ''The Novel, An Alternative History: Beginnings to 1600''. Continuum, 2010. * ''The Novel, An Alternative History: 1600–1800''. Bloomsbury, 2013. Winner of the Christian Gauss Award for literary criticism. * '' My Back Pages: Reviews and Essays''.
Zerogram Press Zerogram Press is dedicated to publishing contemporary literary fiction written in English. It also publishes literary criticism and essays. It was founded in 2016. Books * '' Novel Explosives'' by Jim Gauer (2016) * '' My Back Pages: Reviews ...
, 2017. Corrected, expanded edition, 2018. * ''Alexander Theroux: A Fan's Notes''.
Zerogram Press Zerogram Press is dedicated to publishing contemporary literary fiction written in English. It also publishes literary criticism and essays. It was founded in 2016. Books * '' Novel Explosives'' by Jim Gauer (2016) * '' My Back Pages: Reviews ...
, 2020.


Anthologies and editions

* ''In Recognition of William Gaddis'' . Edited by John R. Kuehl and SM. Syracuse University Press, 1984. Introduction," 1–19; " Peer Gynt and The Recognitions ," 81–91, and annotated bibliography, 199–206, by SM* ''The Vampire in Verse''. Edited ith an introduction and extensive notesby SM. Dracula Press, 1985. * Edward Dahlberg. ''Samuel Beckett's Wake and Other Uncollected Prose''. Edited with an introduction by SM. Dalkey Archive Press, 1989. * Ronald Firbank. ''Complete Short Stories'' . Edited nd with textual notesby SM. Dalkey Archive Press, 1990. Published in England ith additional materialas ''The Early Firbank''. Quartet, 1991. * Olive Moore. ''Collected Writings'' . Edited ith an appendixby SM. Dalkey Archive, 1992. * Ronald Firbank. ''Complete Plays''. Edited with an introduction by SM. Dalkey Archive 1994. * W. M. Spackman, ''Complete Fiction''. Edited with an afterword by SM. Dalkey Archive, 1997. * ''Beerspit Night and Cursing: The Correspondence of Charles Bukowski and Sheri Martinelli''. Edited with an introduction by SM. Black Sparrow, 2001. * ''Medieval Epics and Sagas''. Edited with a preface by SM. Borders Classics, 2005. * Chandler Brossard, ''Over the Rainbow? Hardly: Selected Short Seizures''. Edited with an introduction by SM. Sun Dog Press, 2005. * ''The Letters of William Gaddis.'' Edited with an introduction and notes by SM. Dalkey Archive, 2013. * ''On the Decay of Criticism: The Complete Essays of W. M. Spackman.'' Edited with an introduction by SM. Fantagraphics Books, 2017.


Articles, notes, and contributions to books

* "David in Crimea ." ''A Wake Newslitter: Studies of James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake."'' WN13 (December 1976): 115–16. * "For the Record." AWN 13 (December 1976): 118. * "Oliver Cromwell." AWN 14 (April 1977): 29–30. * "Luperca Latouche." AWN 17 (April 1980): 25. * "I Ching." AWN 17 (April 1980): 25. * "Chronological Difficulties in the Novels of William Gaddis." ''Critique'' 22 (September 1980): 79–91. * "An Interview with William Gaddis." ''Review of Contemporary Fiction'' CF2.2 (Summer 1982): 4–6. (with John Kuehl) * "William Gaddis: A Selected Bibliography." RCF 2.2 (Summer 1982): 55–56. * "Pynchon on Record." ''Pynchon Notes'' 10 (October 1982): 56–57. * "Subject Index (1962–1980)." AWN, special supplement (December 1982): I-vi. * "‘Parallel, Not Series': Thomas Pynchon and William Gaddis." ''Pynchon Notes'' 11 (February 1983): 6–26. * "Additional Sources for Gaddis's ''The Recognitions''." ''American Notes & Queries'' 22 (March/April 1984): 111–15. * "‘The World Is at Fault.'" ''Pynchon Notes'' 15 (Fall 1984): 84–85. * "Alexander Theroux's ''Darconville's Cat'' and the Tradition of Learned Wit." ''Contemporary Literature'' 27 (Summer 1986): 233–45. * "An Interview with Chandler Brossard ." RCF 7.1 (Spring 1987): 38–53. * "Chandler Brossard: An Introduction and Checklist." RCF 7.1 (Spring 1987): 58–86. * "William Gaddis: Sidelights Essay." ''Contemporary Authors'', New Revision Series. Edited by Deborah A. Straub. Gale Research Co., 1987. 21:148–53. * "Gaddis's ''J R''." ''The Explicator'' 47.1 (Fall 1988): 55. * "Introduction." Alan Ansen, ''Contact Highs: Selected Poems 1957–1987.'' Dalkey Archive, 1989. xi–xxxiv. * "Joseph McElroy: A Bibliography." RCF 10.1 (Spring 1990): 283–88. * "David Markson and the Art of Allusion." RCF 10.2 (Summer 1990): 164–78. * "William Gaddis: la fascination du labyrinthe." ''Magazine littéraire'', October 1990, 95–97. * "Alexander Theroux: An Introduction." RCF 11.1 (Spring 1991): 7–28. * "An Interview with Alexander Theroux." RCF 11.1 (Spring 1991): 29–35. * "Alexander Theroux: A Bibliography." RCF 11.1 (Spring 1991): 133–39. * "Afterword." Djuna Barnes, ''Ladies Almanack.'' Dalkey Archive, 1992. 87–91. * "Fin de Siècle." ''American Notes & Queries'' 5.4 (October 1992): 223-24. Rpt. in ''Surfing Tomorrow: Essays on the Future of American Fiction''. Ed.
Lance Olsen Lance Olsen (born October 14, 1956) is an American writer known for his experimental, lyrical, fragmentary, cross-genre narratives that question the limits of historical knowledge. Biography Lance Olsen was born in New Jersey. He received a ...
. Prairie Village, KS: Potpourri, 1995. 69-70. * "Recalled to Life." ''RCF'' 13.1 (Spring 1993): 245–47. n Felipe Alfau* "Brigid Brophy: An Introduction and Checklist." RCF 15.3 (Fall 1995): 7–11. * "Foreword." ''The Letters of Wanda Tinasky.'' Edited by T. R. Factor. Vers Libre Press, 1996. ix–xi. * "A New Language for Desire: Aureole. " RCF 17.3 (Fall 1997): 206–14. * "Reveries of Desire: An Interview with Rikki Ducornet." ''Bloomsbury Review'', January/February 1998, 11–12. Rpt. in ''The VP Annual 2016'' (Verbivoracious Press, 2016), 81-89. * "Sheri Martinelli: A Remembrance." ''Anais'' 16 (Spring 1998): 92–102. * "Sheri Martinelli: A Modernist Muse." ''Gargoyle'' 41 (Summer 1998): 29–54. * "Foreword." Chandler Brossard. ''Who Walk in Darkness''. Herodias, 2000. * "Fairies and Nymphs: The Fiction of Francesca Lia Block." ''Rain Taxi'' 5.4 (Winter 2000–01): 32–33. * "Foreword." Chandler Brossard. ''The Bold Saboteurs''. Herodias, 2001. * "Nympholepsy." ''Gargoyle'' 45 (October 2002): 9–22. * Untitled contribution to "William Gaddis: A Portfolio." ''Conjunctions'' 41 (November 2003): 387. * "''Carpenter's Gothic''; or, The Ambiguities." in ''William Gaddis: Bloom's Modern Critical Views''. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2004. 101–24. * “Paper Flowers: Richard Brautigan's Poetry.” In ''Richard Brautigan: Essays on the Writings and Life''. Ed. John F. Barber. Jefferson, NC : McFarland & Co., 2006. 188–204. Translated into French as the introduction to Brautigan’s ''Tout ce que j'ai à déclarer: œuvre poétique complète'' (Le Castor Astral, 2016), 25-51. * “The Secret History of ''Agape Agape''.” In ''Paper Empire: William Gaddis and the World System''. Ed. Joseph Tabbi and Rone Shavers. Tuscaloosa : Univ. of Alabama Press, 2007. 256–66. * "David Foster Wallace In Memoriam." ''Modernism/Modernity'' 16.1 (January 2010): 1–3. * "William Gaddis: The Nobility of Failure." ''Critique'' 51 (February 2010): 118–20. * "When Knighthood Was in Error." ''College Hill Review'' no. 5 (Spring 2010): http://www.collegehillreview.com/005/0050901.html * "Foreword." Ted Morrissey. ''The'' Beowulf ''Poet and His Real Monsters.'' Edwin Mellin Press, 2013. i–iv. * "The Pleasures of ''The Sorrows of Young Werther''." ''Apology'', #2 (Summer 2013): 112–19. * "Alexander Theroux—''Darconville’s Cat.''" ''The Syllabus.'' Ed. G. N. Forester and M. J. Nicholls. Singapore: Verbivoracious Press, 2015, 107–8. * "Maximalism Down Argentine Way: ''Adam Buenosayres''." ''Pleasure: A Journal of the Arts'' no. 4 (October 2015): 15-19. * "Publishing Rikki." ''Rikki Ducornet''. Ed. G. N. Forester and M. J. Nicholls. Singapore: Verbivoracious Press, 2015, 63-67. * “The Avant-Pop Novels of J. P. McEvoy.” ''Número Cinq'' 8.3 (March 2017)

* “What Is (and Isn’t) Literature?” ''3:AM Magazine'', posted 6 January 2020

* “M. J. Nicholls: Fear Anxiety Panic.” ''Rain Taxi'' 25.1 (Spring 2020): 16-18. * "Foreword." Greg Gerke. ''See What I See: Essays.'' Zerogram Press, 2021. 9-14. * Marguerite Young. ''The Collected Poems.'' ''Poetry'', 3 October 2022


External links


Continuum Books pages
with large sampling of ''The Novel: An Alternative History''
Steven Moore web site

William Gaddis web site
with texts of Steven Moore books
"''The Recognitions'', Then and Now" (2005)

An interview with Steven Moore
on ''The Marketplace of Ideas''
''Music & Literature'' interview
* "Keeping the Novel Novel: A Conversation with Steven Moore." ''The Scofield'' 1.1. (Summer 2015): 93-10


Bookworm interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Steven 1951 births Living people American non-fiction writers American literary critics