'See What Can Be Done' is a testament to the breadth of Lorrie Moore’s intellect

See What Can Be Done, novelist and short story writer Lorrie Moore’s first nonfiction collection, takes its name from the words of Robert Silvers, the late editor of The New York Review of Books.

When Silvers would send Moore a book for possible review, “See what can be done” was invariably written in an accompanying note. “It was a magical request, and it suggested that one might like to surprise oneself,” Moore tells readers. “Perhaps a door would