Otherppl with Brad Listi · Brad Listi
REPLAY: Lorrie Moore on Writing, the Afterlife, and Ghost Stories
April 2, 2026·1 hr 15 min·5 clips
Lorrie Moore says the narrator of a novel is not the author nor the character — it is a third presence, and a writer must please that presence above all else.
As heard by us
A loose literary conversation that keeps the novel's pairs, structure, and emotional logic in view.
The opening is weighed down by sponsor copy and familiar reset language, and it takes a while to get moving. Once it settles, though, the exchange opens up into a loose literary conversation that gives Lorrie Moore room to think aloud about writing, opera, memory, and the…
Why you'd press play
You want an unrushed Books and Culture interview that keeps circling opera, death, and the novel's strange patterning.
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