UNCUT Bookworm Interview with Steven Moore

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Steven Moore graciously mailed me a CD of his uncut Bookworm interview from 2017. Michael Silverblatt gave his blessing to post it here. Enjoy! The interview begins at 00:02:56.
Original interview (28 mins): www.kcrw.com/c...
Also check out Steven Moore's most recent talk on the Feeling Bookish podcast:
podcasts.apple...
#leafbyleaf #bookworm #michaelsilverblatt #stevenmoore #literature #interview

[@billyewell6552]

“A lot of times when you get a long, hard book, the reviewer doesn’t get it and makes it the author’s fault.” I love Silverblatt so much.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Me, too!

[@jamesduncan5603]

Wow Chris, what a fantastic get. This is one of many Bookworm interviews I listen to on repeat. These two have shaped my literary tastes more than anyone and taught me to be a generous and open-hearted reader.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Glad you are enjoying it! Yes-a generous and open-hearted reader. Exactly. William Gass said in an interview that you cannot and should not be expected to fall in love with every pretty girl (book) on the street. But I sure want to try!

[@PaperBird]

amazing, Chris! thanks for sharing this Moore gem.. also that must've been an awesome chat about John Barth with the great Silverblatt!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Ahhhh, a paperbird stamp of approval. This has been a great last few days

[@saintonfire77]

Thank you for posting this radio interview. I have the book 'My Back Pages' by Steven Moore/look at often to learn about writers/books.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

MBP caused me to spend absurd amounts of money on books. Glad you’re enjoying it.

[@soniasoares7768]

Hello, Chris. I first found you through a recent video I saw from Better Than Food, you were there in this amazing interview and I have to came and check your channel Leaf by Leaf and I am in awe with so many great content. Thank you for sharing good information from the literacy world. A warm hug from me here in Boston.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks so much! I LOVE Boston! Been there 5x and ready to go back!

[@therealspiroagnew818]

Lord, how I would love to hear every other Bookworm interview in their unexpurgated forms

[@LeafbyLeaf]

You and me both!

[@billbeck5935]

Thanks, Chris and thanks to Steven and Michael Silverblatt! I'm excited to say that I've ordered Mr Moore's "My Back Pages." Read on!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

You will love it!

[@thepowerrank8483]

This blew my mind. Thank you so much for posting this. I’m going to get My Back Pages and have a lifetime of literary richness to absorb.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

You’re welcome. My Back Pages is definitely a must-have. You will love it.

[@dudelord787]

Wow I can’t imagine speaking with Silverblatt telephonically. What a joy! Many more good things ahead!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

It was and still is so surreal. I felt tongue-tied most of the time and I am certain I am utterly uninteresting to him!

[@dudelord787]

@@LeafbyLeaf I’m sure Silverblatt wouldn’t go out of his way to speak with someone. I love that just hearing his voice and having a conversation mano a mano he’s historic and his interviews are so top shelf and nostalgic-DFW lead me to finding him too! I’m positive there are huge doors opening!

[@aubuggy9069]

Wow, how nice of Silverblatt, a couple of years ago one of those questions popped up about who in letters you would like to be squeezed into the middle seat on an aircraft with for a drink and a conversation, and my response was Harold Bloom and Don Delllio. Now, I think I'd have to pick Silverblatt to replace Dr. Bloom. What an amazing reader Silverblatt is, and how nice of him to call you!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Great answers! 👊

[@normanjohnson3850]

Great to hear Steven Moore in the flesh, as it were! Many thanks for sharing this with us!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Indeed. Glad you’re enjoying it!

[@bedet]

Been a while! Two things: I'm getting caught up on your videos and the quality is great! Also, I love your two latest Gaddis vids! And, (ok three things!) there's this wonderful video of Silverblatt talking at Cornell here on KZbin, and he talks about meeting Barth et al in college, and he says how they were his friends, "they didn't know it yet, but they were my friends!" I feel the same way about Michael Silverblatt. He's a great friend of mine, he just doesn't know it yet. I'm glad you got to chat with him! That's so great. And thanks for sharing the uncut version of an interview I've listened to probably 5 times, at least! (OK, like five things)

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I enjoyed that effect of your list metastasizing in real-time! Thanks for the compliments. It has been a work in progress for sure but I’m fairly pleased with it. As for unbeknownst friends, that was my relationship to Bloom.

[@dirtycelinefrenchman]

What Moore said about the role and function of the reviewer/critic was spot on

[@marinamaccagni5253]

This is awesome! Thank you very much! Ps. Nice Cut!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

You're welcome. And--thank you! :)

[@derekmainereads]

Thank you so much for putting this up

[@LeafbyLeaf]

You’re welcome. Enjoy!

[@AganaktismenhSalonik]

Wow just wow Now i want an archieve full of all uncut and unedited bookworms interviews,well one can dream so thank you for your initiative to get this one.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

It’s my pleasure! I tried to get the uncut David Foster Wallace episode from 1996, but it seems it is part of the DFW estate.

[@iridule]

Thank you for this upload, LBL. Michael Silverblatt is somebody I would love to talk to about my favourite writers so I envy the honour you had!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

You’re welcome. I’m still in shock. Not completely convinced it really happened.

[@dcdc139]

Wow thanks. i can't wait to have the time to listen to it in its entirety. And that's a great story about Michael Silverblatt.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

You’re welcome! And when I recorded this video Friday morning, I had no idea I would have an over-four-hour phone call with Silverblatt that night! I’m still in denial/shock/euphoria.

[@dcdc139]

@@LeafbyLeaf Awesome - and I mean that in the true sense of the word. I'm sure that the conversation would be as interesting as any episode of Bookworm. I work in the media for a living and I admit that Michael Silverblatts soft spokeness has greatly influenced my own style of interviewing. I rarely do anything literary, but I once had the opportunity to interview Kim Thuy, who is sometimes listed as a longshot candidate for the Nobel Prize. I Silverblatted it and went ahead and read everything of hers that I could before hand. I think that she appreciated speaking to someone who was familiar with her work. I can't imagine how he does it week after week though.

[@dcdc139]

@@LeafbyLeaf Just wanted to add as well that your own KZbin page rekindled, in a way, my love of reading. At the beginning of the pandemic, I could hardly finish a page, let alone a chapter or an entire book. Over the past 3 months, I've probably read more novels than I have in a long while

[@dorothysatterfield3699]

What a delight! I can't thank you enough for introducing me to these two gentlemen.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

My pleasure!

[@witivisip]

thank you for one of the most interesting and exciting interview I have ever listened

[@LeafbyLeaf]

You’re welcome! Glad you’re enjoying it.

[@guzmanhc]

Wonderful conversation. Thanks for sharing this

[@LeafbyLeaf]

My pleasure!

[@makebelievestunt]

Loved it, thanks so much, Chris, for sharing.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

No problem. So glad you enjoyed it!

[@therecognitionsbookclub8673]

Thanks for posting this! Two wonderful guys. Also, I love how Bottom’s Dream has to sit in the corner because it’s too big

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Haha, yes! You’re the first to point that out. It looks like the Kubrick 2001 monolith.

[@leoquesto9183]

This is delicious. I have wished for these BW interviews to exceed the 29-min mark for so long. A standard hour with Michael Silverblatt for his show, virtually all his itvs, would be a dream. Thanks for sharing.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I couldn't agree more!

[@noahfranks984]

This is sooooo sick. You got to talk to Silverblatt! I can’t believe I haven’t seen your channel until now

[@LeafbyLeaf]

In an incredible continuation of fortune, we now talk regularly on the phone. I’m only recently finding that I can loosen my tongue and begin to articulate thoughts back to him. Really, really unreal.

[@estebanmejia3473]

Yeeeees, Steven Moore is awesome!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Indeed! Enjoy!

[@vijitdey6032]

This is brilliant content! So much I got to know about authors I had not heard about.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

🙏👊

[@travism8137]

it is a pleasure viewing your videos. the effort involved doesnt go unoticed. cheers

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Many thanks for that! It is really a pleasure to share this stuff with you all.

[@williamgass9242]

My condolences

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Condolences?

[@lalitborabooks]

Just 12 seconds into the video and I would like to say that I eagerly wait for your review of Infinite Jest.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I look forward to talking about it!

[@tboss8157]

Imagine being a critic receiving Women and Men with a review deadline of like 2 weeks. I would just retire lol.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

😂😂😂

[@rickharsch8797]

Thanks, Chris

[@LeafbyLeaf]

You're welcome, Sgt. Harsch.

[@marcoangelitv]

Better Than Food mug? Is this a hint towards a future collab ?????

[@LeafbyLeaf]

It was my way of acknowledging that he acknowledged me in a recent video. No plans for a collab that I know of.

[@wesleyallen2593]

"What's wrong with soufflés?" Can I get that on a shirt?

[@LeafbyLeaf]

😜

[@robertgardner5960]

They talk about William Spackman, whose novels are worth checking out, if you haven't already. I just saw your post on short books, and Spackman's Armful of Warm Girl should make that list. By the way, Browne and Burton are both much earlier than DeQuincy.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I have the Dalkey omnibus of Spackman (snatched it up from the basement of the Harvard Book Store)! I’ll have to do another 10 Short Books video just as I did recently with 10 Big Books.

[@Taleyatomcat]

"Uncut Bookworm" is an irresistible video title. Unfortunately, it put me in such a good mood that I went into my listening with a vigorous idea that I would hear what I wanted to hear, rather than what was really being said, so I refuse to think about anything other than the interviewer's love for long hard books. I wish that I had more time to spend lingering on the pleasure he put into each elongated enunciation, maybe even the meaning behind the words, but life is short and hard, and I'm in the Taco Bell drive thru, so my attention is running towards the menu. The line hasn't moved in six minutes. I don't know if I'll get the chicken chalupa supreme or two soft tacos, but now I at least know that I am not as fond of long hard books as I am fond of hearing people say that phrase. Just like the idea of an uncut bookworm is more easy to swallow than the reality of an uncut bookworm. I assume. But maybe I should challenge my own ignorance of the true nature of uncut bookworms? If I don't like it once, maybe a second try will change my mind. Two soft tacos with Diablo sauce, I'm broke, don't want the tacos anymore but here I am, doing things I don't like because the idea is easier than the reality. So thank you for reminding me that I'm due for a wholesome home cooked meal. If only there wasn't the reality of grocery shopping, veggie chopping, and dishes to wash, rinse, and put away. See you in the next Taco Bell gridlock.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Epic comment. This could easily have been an extract from a David Foster Wallace piece, perhaps his Kenyon College commencement speech. Enjoy your taco (or not)!

[@gabeguerrero7865]

Infinite Jest, eh? Maybe your review will convince me to read it!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

We shall see! Though I wouldn’t shame anyone for not reading it.

[@rickharsch8797]

Nice cup gesturage!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Figured I’d return the nod to him from his last video. Spoiler: the cup was empty.

[@therecognitionsbookclub8673]

Oh yeah, I need to make a T-shirt.

[@chrisoleson9570]

The indomitable Steven Moore also recently appeared on the Feeling Bookish podcast: feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:474704355/sounds.rss

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Yes, he did. I have a link to that one in the description. They mention me in that interview, too!

[@captain_eclectic]

Is there a way to get in touch with Mr. Moore?

[@LeafbyLeaf]

stevenmoore.info/

[@captain_eclectic]

@@LeafbyLeaf 🙏

[@siddharthhanda56]

Any tips on tackling Infinite Jest for the first time?

[@LeafbyLeaf]

1. Clear your reading schedule for a couple months. 2. Don’t worry about “getting” everything. 3. Read it leaf by leaf.

[@siddharthhanda56]

@@LeafbyLeaf Fair enough. Thanks for the interview btw.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Seriously though I think the purported difficulty with this one is in its length. Sure the chronology jumps around a bit. But I think most people who come to it with an attitude or reading it instead of an attitude of finishing it will be surprised at its readability (especially as compared to other postmodern works). All my best!

[@siddharthhanda56]

@@LeafbyLeaf That's encouraging, thank you. I'll get back to you in a couple months :p

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Haha! Enjoy. And be careful.