Last Time Around

Steven Moore's My Back Pages compiled most of the essays and reviews he had written through 2016; this new volume gathers the shorter pieces he has published since then, along with some previously uncollected writings. While the last volume focused on modern literature, this one ranges from Gilgamesh to medieval novels to books published within the last year. There are essays on old favorites (Gaddis, Pynchon, Coover, Theroux) and on new discoveries, such as an obscure Elizabethan novel and some little-known female postmodernists. Also included is a selection from the many interviews Moore has given over the years, in which he discusses his background, his motives and working methods, and his favorite authors. As the title suggests, Last Time Around closes out Moore's fifty-year career as a devoted literary critic.