Last fall, on the acclaimed HBO show "In Treatment," the lead character, played by Gabriel Bryne, was unhappily reading positive blurbs from the back of a fictitious book he felt defamed him, including one from Lorrie Moore.
Forget literary prizes and best-seller lists, although Moore can claim those too: You know you've arrived when HBO starts using you as a literary icon!
Moore, a world-renowned writer of poignant short stories and novels, has taught creative writing at the UW-Madison since 1984. Yet, as an Isthmus profile noted, she "retains a curious insider-outsider relationship to the Midwest." It's the setting of many of her stories, and a place from which she often suggests she'd like to escape.
Aw, Lorrie, don't feel that way. You can leave anytime you want, but we like having you.
