Lorrie Moore CollectionWords Are All You Need: Speech Acts in Lorrie Moore'sAnagrams

Abstract

Indulgence in wordplay is a chief marker of Lorrie Moore's prose. No matter the voice or context, her protagonists find refuge in words' multiple meanings, as near-puns, near-anagrams, and other examples of wordplay are strewn throughout her tales. Her characters are often shaped by their language and their response to others' words more than by their responses to events, giving speech acts more import than actual actions. All storytelling can be viewed as a type of speech act between author and reader, but Moore's protagonists use speech acts as a respite from tension and interpersonal conflict, to the extent of using language to invent new characters, such as Georgianne and Eleanor inAnagrams. People in Moore's tales are rarely looking for the “right” – consoling, helpful – words; they instead use language as a bandage to cover the wounds of failing, or failed, relationships. Speech acts ultimately prove fruitless in holding off the inevitable, and her characters are almost always alone at the end of their stories, isolated by the repercussions of their own speech acts. Their facility with language is a consolation in, but often contributor to, their loneliness.