John Crowley
Encyclopedia
John Crowley is an American
author of fantasy
, science fiction
and mainstream fiction. He studied at Indiana University
and has a second career as a documentary film
writer. He is best known as the author of Little, Big
(1981), which received the World Fantasy Award
for Best Novel and has been called "a neglected masterpiece" by Harold Bloom
.
, in 1942; his father was then an officer in the US Army Air Corps. He grew up in Vermont, northeastern Kentucky and (for the longest stretch) Indiana, where he went to high school and college. He moved to New York City after college to make movies, and did find work in documentary films, an occupation he still pursues. He published his first novel (The Deep) in 1975, and his 17th volume of fiction (Four Freedoms) in 2009. Since 1993 he has taught creative writing at Yale University
. In 1992 he received the Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
His first published novels were science fiction: The Deep
(1975) and Beasts
(1976). Engine Summer
(1979) was nominated for the 1980 American Book Award
; it appears in David Pringle
’s Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels
. In 1981 came Little, Big
.
In 1987 Crowley embarked on an ambitious four-volume novel, Ægypt
, comprising The Solitudes (originally published as Ægypt), Love & Sleep, Dæmonomania, and Endless Things, published in May 2007. This series and Little, Big were cited when Crowley received the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature.
He is also the recipient of an Ingram Merrill Foundation grant. His recent novels are The Translator, recipient of the Premio Flaiano (Italy); Lord Byron’s Novel: The Evening Land, which contains an entire imaginary novel by the poet; and the aforementioned Four Freedoms, about workers at an Oklahoma defense plant during World War II. A novella, The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines, appeared in 2002. A museum-quality 25th anniversary edition of Little, Big, featuring the art of Peter Milton
and a critical introduction by Harold Bloom
, is in preparation for August 2011.
Crowley’s short fiction is collected in three volumes: Novelty (containing the World Fantasy Award-winning novella Great Work of Time
), Antiquities, and Novelties & Souvenirs, an omnibus volume containing all his short fiction through its publication in 2004. A collection of essays and reviews entitled In Other Words was published in early 2007.
In 1989 Crowley and his wife Laurie Block founded Straight Ahead Pictures to produce media (film, video, radio and internet) on American history and culture. Crowley writes scripts for short films and documentaries, many historical documentaries for public television; his work has received numerous awards and has been shown at the New York Film Festival, the Berlin Film Festival, and many others. His scripts include The World of Tomorrow (on the 1939 World's Fair
), No Place to Hide (on the bomb shelter obsession), The Hindenburg, and FIT: Episodes in the History of the Body (American fitness
practices and beliefs over the decades; with Laurie Block).
Crowley's correspondence with literary critic Harold Bloom
, and their mutual appreciation, led in 1993 to Crowley taking up a post at Yale University
, where he teaches courses in Utopian fiction, fiction writing, and screenplay writing. Bloom claimed on Contentville.com that Little, Big ranks among the five best novels by a living writer, and included Little, Big, Ægypt (The Solitudes), and Love & Sleep in his canon of literature (in the appendix to The Western Canon, 1994). In his Preface to Snake's-Hands, Bloom identifies Crowley as his "favorite contemporary writer", and the Ægypt series as his "favorite romance...after Little, Big".
Crowley has also taught at the Clarion West Writers' Workshop
held annually in Seattle, Washington.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author of fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
, science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and mainstream fiction. He studied at Indiana University
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Being the flagship campus, IU Bloomington is often referred to simply as IU or Indiana...
and has a second career as a documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
writer. He is best known as the author of Little, Big
Little, Big
Little, Big: or, The Fairies' Parliament is a modern fantasy novel by John Crowley, published in 1981. It won the World Fantasy Award in 1982.-Plot synopsis:...
(1981), which received the World Fantasy Award
World Fantasy Award
The World Fantasy Awards are annual, international awards given to authors and artists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of fantasy...
for Best Novel and has been called "a neglected masterpiece" by Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary...
.
Biography
John Crowley was born in Presque Isle, MainePresque Isle, Maine
Presque Isle is the commercial center and largest city in the sparsely populated Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 9,692 at the 2010 census...
, in 1942; his father was then an officer in the US Army Air Corps. He grew up in Vermont, northeastern Kentucky and (for the longest stretch) Indiana, where he went to high school and college. He moved to New York City after college to make movies, and did find work in documentary films, an occupation he still pursues. He published his first novel (The Deep) in 1975, and his 17th volume of fiction (Four Freedoms) in 2009. Since 1993 he has taught creative writing at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. In 1992 he received the Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
His first published novels were science fiction: The Deep
The Deep (John Crowley)
The Deep is an early short novel by John Crowley.A visitor arrives from elsewhere on a strange mediaeval world where the two factions, the "Reds" and the "Blacks", struggle for supremacy through battle, murder and treachery....
(1975) and Beasts
Beasts (John Crowley)
Beasts is a novel by John Crowley,published in 1976 by Doubleday.-Plot summary:Beasts describes a world in which genetically engineered animals are given a variety of human characteristics. Painter is a leo, a combination of man and lion...
(1976). Engine Summer
Engine Summer
Engine Summer is a novel by John Crowley, published in 1979 by Doubleday. It was nominated for the 1980 National Book Award for hardcover science fiction, as well as both the British Fantasy and John W. Campbell Awards the same year...
(1979) was nominated for the 1980 American Book Award
American Book Award
The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...
; it appears in David Pringle
David Pringle
David Pringle is a Scottish science fiction editor.Pringle served as the editor of Foundation, an academic journal, from 1980 through 1986, during which time he became one of the prime movers of the collective which founded Interzone in 1982...
’s Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels
Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels
Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, An English-Language Selection, 1949-1984 is a nonfiction book by David Pringle, published by Xanadu in 1985. The foreword is by Michael Moorcock....
. In 1981 came Little, Big
Little, Big
Little, Big: or, The Fairies' Parliament is a modern fantasy novel by John Crowley, published in 1981. It won the World Fantasy Award in 1982.-Plot synopsis:...
.
In 1987 Crowley embarked on an ambitious four-volume novel, Ægypt
Ægypt
Ægypt is a sequence of four novels by John Crowley. The work describes the work and life of Pierce Moffett, who prepares a manuscript for publication even as it prepares him for some as-yet unknown destiny, all set amidst strange and subtle Hermetic manipulations among the Faraway Hills at the...
, comprising The Solitudes (originally published as Ægypt), Love & Sleep, Dæmonomania, and Endless Things, published in May 2007. This series and Little, Big were cited when Crowley received the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature.
He is also the recipient of an Ingram Merrill Foundation grant. His recent novels are The Translator, recipient of the Premio Flaiano (Italy); Lord Byron’s Novel: The Evening Land, which contains an entire imaginary novel by the poet; and the aforementioned Four Freedoms, about workers at an Oklahoma defense plant during World War II. A novella, The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines, appeared in 2002. A museum-quality 25th anniversary edition of Little, Big, featuring the art of Peter Milton
Peter Milton
Peter Winslow Milton is an American artist.A creator of black and white etchings and engravings that often display an extraordinary degree of photo-realistic detail placed in the service of a truly visionary aesthetic, his themes include architecture, history, myth, and memory, their intersections...
and a critical introduction by Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary...
, is in preparation for August 2011.
Crowley’s short fiction is collected in three volumes: Novelty (containing the World Fantasy Award-winning novella Great Work of Time
Great Work of Time
Great Work of Time is a novella by John Crowley. A science fiction story involving time travel, it concerns a secret society created by the will of Cecil Rhodes to preserve and expand the British Empire....
), Antiquities, and Novelties & Souvenirs, an omnibus volume containing all his short fiction through its publication in 2004. A collection of essays and reviews entitled In Other Words was published in early 2007.
In 1989 Crowley and his wife Laurie Block founded Straight Ahead Pictures to produce media (film, video, radio and internet) on American history and culture. Crowley writes scripts for short films and documentaries, many historical documentaries for public television; his work has received numerous awards and has been shown at the New York Film Festival, the Berlin Film Festival, and many others. His scripts include The World of Tomorrow (on the 1939 World's Fair
World's Fair
World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...
), No Place to Hide (on the bomb shelter obsession), The Hindenburg, and FIT: Episodes in the History of the Body (American fitness
Physical fitness
Physical fitness comprises two related concepts: general fitness , and specific fitness...
practices and beliefs over the decades; with Laurie Block).
Crowley's correspondence with literary critic Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary...
, and their mutual appreciation, led in 1993 to Crowley taking up a post at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, where he teaches courses in Utopian fiction, fiction writing, and screenplay writing. Bloom claimed on Contentville.com that Little, Big ranks among the five best novels by a living writer, and included Little, Big, Ægypt (The Solitudes), and Love & Sleep in his canon of literature (in the appendix to The Western Canon, 1994). In his Preface to Snake's-Hands, Bloom identifies Crowley as his "favorite contemporary writer", and the Ægypt series as his "favorite romance...after Little, Big".
Crowley has also taught at the Clarion West Writers' Workshop
Clarion West Writers Workshop
Clarion West Writers Workshop is an intensive six-week program for writers preparing for professional careers in science fiction and fantasy. It runs yearly late June through the end of July. The workshop is limited to 18 students per year. Each of the six weeks is instructed by a different...
held annually in Seattle, Washington.
Awards
- 1982: Little, BigLittle, BigLittle, Big: or, The Fairies' Parliament is a modern fantasy novel by John Crowley, published in 1981. It won the World Fantasy Award in 1982.-Plot synopsis:...
received the World Fantasy Award for Best NovelWorld Fantasy Award for Best NovelThis World Fantasy Award is given to the fantasy novel or novels voted best by a panel of judges, and presented each year at the World Fantasy Convention.-1975:...
and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award. - 1990: Great Work of TimeGreat Work of TimeGreat Work of Time is a novella by John Crowley. A science fiction story involving time travel, it concerns a secret society created by the will of Cecil Rhodes to preserve and expand the British Empire....
received the World Fantasy Award for Best NovellaWorld Fantasy Award for Best NovellaThis World Fantasy Award is given to the fantasy novella or novellas voted best by a panel of judges, and presented each year at the World Fantasy Convention...
. - 1992: American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award in Literature.
- 1997: Gone received the Locus AwardLocus AwardThe Locus Award is a literary award established in 1971 and presented to winners of Locus magazine's annual readers' poll. Currently, the Locus Awards are presented at an annual banquet...
for Best Short Story. - 2003: The Translator received the Italian Premio Flaiano.
- 2006: World Fantasy Award for Life AchievementWorld Fantasy Award for Life AchievementThis World Fantasy Award is presented to individuals for their outstanding service to the fantasy field, and decided by a panel of judges at the World Fantasy Convention.-1984:* L. Sprague de Camp* Richard Matheson* E. Hoffmann Price* Jack Vance* Donald Wandrei...
.
Novels
- The DeepThe Deep (John Crowley)The Deep is an early short novel by John Crowley.A visitor arrives from elsewhere on a strange mediaeval world where the two factions, the "Reds" and the "Blacks", struggle for supremacy through battle, murder and treachery....
, Doubleday (1975) - BeastsBeasts (John Crowley)Beasts is a novel by John Crowley,published in 1976 by Doubleday.-Plot summary:Beasts describes a world in which genetically engineered animals are given a variety of human characteristics. Painter is a leo, a combination of man and lion...
, Doubleday (1976) - Engine SummerEngine SummerEngine Summer is a novel by John Crowley, published in 1979 by Doubleday. It was nominated for the 1980 National Book Award for hardcover science fiction, as well as both the British Fantasy and John W. Campbell Awards the same year...
, Doubleday (1979) -- BSFA and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards nominee, 1980 - Little, BigLittle, BigLittle, Big: or, The Fairies' Parliament is a modern fantasy novel by John Crowley, published in 1981. It won the World Fantasy Award in 1982.-Plot synopsis:...
, Bantam (1981) -- Nebula nominee, 1981; WFA winner, 1982; BSFA, Hugo, and Locus Awards nominee, 1982 - Ægypt (first novel in the ÆgyptÆgyptÆgypt is a sequence of four novels by John Crowley. The work describes the work and life of Pierce Moffett, who prepares a manuscript for publication even as it prepares him for some as-yet unknown destiny, all set amidst strange and subtle Hermetic manipulations among the Faraway Hills at the...
tetralogy), Bantam (1987); revised and republished 2007 under intended original title, The Solitudes -- WFA and Clarke Awards nominee, 1988 - Love & Sleep (second novel in the Ægypt tetralogy), Bantam (1994) -- WFA nominee, 1995
- Dæmonomania (third novel in the Ægypt tetralogy), Bantam (2000)
- The Translator, William Morrow (2002)
- Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land, William Morrow (2005)
- Endless Things (fourth and final novel in the Ægypt tetralogy), Small Beer PressSmall Beer PressSmall Beer Press is a publisher of fantasy and literary fiction, based in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was founded by Gavin Grant and Kelly Link in 2000 and publishes novels, collections, and anthologies. It also publishes the zine Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, chapbooks, the Peapod Classics...
(2007) -- Locus Award nominee, 2008 - Four Freedoms, William Morrow (2009)
Short fiction
- "Antiquities" (1977)
- "Where Spirits Gat Them Home" (1978, later revised as "Her Bounty to the Dead")
- "The Single Excursion of Caspar Last" (1979, later incorporated into "Great Work of Time")
- "The Reason for the Visit" (1980)
- "The Green Child" (1981)
- "Novelty" (1983)
- "Snow" (1985)
- "The Nightingale Sings at Night" (1989)
- "Great Work of TimeGreat Work of TimeGreat Work of Time is a novella by John Crowley. A science fiction story involving time travel, it concerns a secret society created by the will of Cecil Rhodes to preserve and expand the British Empire....
" (novella, originally published in Novelty, 1989), Bantam (1991) - "In Blue" (1989)
- "Missolonghi 1824" (1990)
- "Exogamy" (1993)
- "Gone" (1996)
- "Lost and Abandoned" (1997)
- "An Earthly Mother Sits and Sings" (2000, published as an original chapbook by DreamHaven, illustrated by Charles VessCharles VessCharles Vess is an American fantasy artist and comic-book illustrator who has specialized in the illustration of myths and fairy tales. His illustrations are strongly influenced by the work of artists and illustrators such as Arthur Rackham and Alphonse Mucha...
) - "The War Between the Objects and the Subjects" (2002)
- "The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines" (novella, 2002, in Conjunctions: 39, The New Wave Fabulists, edited by Peter StraubPeter StraubPeter Francis Straub is an American author and poet, most famous for his work in the horror genre. His horror fiction has received numerous literary honors such as the Bram Stoker Award, World Fantasy Award, and International Horror Guild Award, placing him among the most-honored horror authors in...
) - "Little Yeses, Little Nos" (2005)
- "Conversation Hearts" (2008; published as a chapbook by Subterranean Press)
Collections
- Novelty Bantam (1989); collects "The Nightingale Sings At Night", "Great Work of TimeGreat Work of TimeGreat Work of Time is a novella by John Crowley. A science fiction story involving time travel, it concerns a secret society created by the will of Cecil Rhodes to preserve and expand the British Empire....
", "In Blue" and the previously published "Novelty". - Antiquities: Seven Stories, IncunabulaIncunabula (publisher)Incunabula is the name of a quality small press based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The company is under the sole proprietorship of Ron Drummond, who serves as publisher, editor, and production manager...
(1993); includes all of his stories to that point which were not included in Novelty - Novelties and Souvenirs: Collected Short Fiction, Perennial (2004); collects all of his short fiction up to that point, including "Great Work of Time", except "The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines".
Omnibuses
- Beasts/Engine Summer/Little Big, QPBC (1991)
- Three Novels (1994; later published as Otherwise: Three Novels by John Crowley. It includes The Deep, Beasts, Engine Summer).
Screenplays
- The World of Tomorrow (1984)
- Fit: Episodes in the History of the Body (1990, with Laurie Block)
Audio books
- Ægypt, Blackstone Audiobooks (2007; unabridged reading of The Solitudes by the author.)
Critical work concerning
- Snake's-Hands: The Fiction of John Crowley, edited by Alice K. Turner and Michael Andre-Driussi, Cosmos (Canton, OH), 2003.
External links
- Crowley's blog
- john crowley: a pictorial bibliography
- The 25th Anniversary Edition of Little, Big
- Straight Ahead Pictures, Inc
- John Crowley Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at AustinUniversity of Texas at AustinThe University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...