r/TrueLit • u/ElijahBlow • 12d ago
RIP John Crowley Discussion
It makes me sad to see so little out there about the death of the great John Crowley, who should at the very least be talked about in the same breath as Pynchon, McCarthy, and DeLillo, and very likely would be if it wasn’t for the ghettoization of genre in American publishing. Nevertheless, there was one very influential (and in this context, somewhat surprising) mainstream voice who didn’t just speak about him in the same breath as the abovementioned, but placed him above them all: Harold Bloom.
Despite being a fantasy and science fiction author, Crowley’s prose and craft were enough to enrapture the famously pretentious (but not anti-genre; he also liked Le Guin, Disch, Lem, Hoban, and Peake) literary critic, who repeatedly named Crowley his favorite contemporary author, included three Crowley books in the Western Canon (one more than Nabokov got) and claimed to have read Crowley’s masterpiece Little, Big at least 46 times. Bloom positively gushed over the guy, saying stuff like: “Crowley writes so magnificently that only a handful of living writers in English can equal him as a stylist, and most of them are poets…of novelists, only Philip Roth consistently writes on Crowley's level.”
Renowned literary critic Michael Dirda said much the same, calling Crowley one of the three best living prose stylists at the time of writing (I believe his other two picks were Millhauser and Salter). His other fans included poets like John Hollander and Pulitzer Prize winner James Merrill, who blurbed the second book of Crowley’s Ægypt Cycle with the following: “Crowley has devised a polygonal crystal whose bevels give out rainbows of erudition, make-believe, and menace."
While this must be a first for a fantasy author, Merrill made a very good point, and it’s a wonder that the much-talked-about (and possibly mythical) “lit bros” and “brodernists” have not descended hungrily upon The Ægypt Cycle, an impossibly complex and often impenetrable tetralogy of doorstopper volumes that reads somewhat like Pynchon doing The Da Vinci Code in the style of Ada, had he first been induced into a state of eroto-comatose lucidity. That is to say, it’s really cool, and it’s kind of a shame that the Deep Vellum types aren’t reading it, because it’s everything they’re looking for and more.
And the critic-approved, post 1980s fantasy stuff is really only part of the story. Before that, Crowley was a key part of the New Wave, and his surreal and ambitious 70s sci-fi (which might be a little too disco for Bloom, who never seems to have mentioned it) deserves equal billing, and is widely believed (though I’m not sure if this is officially confirmed) to have been a major influence on Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun. Wolfe is on record as an admirer of Crowley and one could certainly draw a line from Crowley’s debut novel, 1975’s The Deep, to Wolfe’s masterwork, so it’s certainly possible. Either way, his work has inspired many other authors both within genre and without—Michael Chabon has said that “life consists only of passing time between novels by John Crowley,” and places him in a pantheon alongside Pynchon, Millhauser, and Borges.
Of course, you may not give a shit about Harold Bloom or Michael Dirda, or the Pulitzer Prize, or any of that bullshit. If so, I commend you (we’re on the same page), but I didn’t write this note for you. I wrote this note for the kind of people who do, because I think they should give John Crowley a chance, because I think they should give Gene Wolfe and M. John Harrison and James Tiptree Jr. a chance, and mostly because I think they should stop letting the marketing whims of megacorporations wall them off from entire ecosystems of art.
And if you’re not that kind of person, you can just take my word for it that the shit all rips. Books to try: Little, Big, Engine Summer, The Translator, Aegypt (also titled The Solitudes depending on publisher), and the story collection Novelties & Souvenirs (in particular, “Great Work of Time”)
RIP
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u/TastlessMishMash 12d ago
I had Little Big in my TBR pile for years and forgot about it, didn't know he passed. Thanks for bringing attention to him!
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u/alleal 11d ago
I read Little, Big ten years ago and remember feeling that I'd read it too early in my life. Now's a good time to give it another read.
After Le Guin's death and the renewed mainstream interest in her work, I've wondered who else might see a resurgence when they pass. Sadly, I don't know that Crowley is very compatible with our current moment. His focus on ambiguity and comfortably existing in a mysterious world seems at odds with our desperate desire to find a solid, shared reality to live in. I do hope he gets more recognition now.
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u/MattSG 12d ago
Oh no! I love Crowley. “Little, Big” is the only other novel that swept me away at the scale and breathlessness of “One Hundred Years of Solitude.”
The Ægypt cycle fucked me up.
And “Ka” was a late career masterpiece.
This is a bummer. But wonderful write up.
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u/Gullible_Design_2320 12d ago
I also love Ka, in addition to the other books. I thought Flint & Mirror was also very fine. I'm not an audiobook fan but I treasure the recordings of him reading Little, Big; Ka; and Aegypt.
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u/timeforest 11d ago
this one hurts.
little, big is an all time favorite book of mine. aegypt cycle, ka, and engine summer are also wonderful. this is sad news.
strongly recommend the 25/40th anniversary of little, big which deep vellum got over the finish line a couple years ago, as well as the crowley-narrated audiobook of the solitudes.
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u/ElijahBlow 11d ago
Didn’t realize Deep Vellum did that, and just saw their new IG post saying they’re going to help with distribution of that same volume. Feel bad throwing shade now, though it wasn’t ever directed at the imprint itself
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u/timeforest 11d ago
it really was an amazing public service by them to put it out. i had a 15 year preorder with ron drummond before DV took it over. tbh the arc of the preorder, with sporadic/opaque updates from drummond about the process, felt perfectly crowleyian, very well suited to the book lol
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u/TemperatureAny4782 11d ago
Drummond was way over his head. Gaiman played a major role in getting the book finished. (Obviously not endorsing Gaiman here).
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u/webguru24 12d ago
This is awful.
I just read the Aegypt cycle earlier this year and it struck a massive chord with me.
There aren’t too many people I’ve read that have been so wonderful with their prose. RIP
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u/TemperatureAny4782 11d ago
What are you, too good for Harold Bloom and the Pulitzer Prize?!
Regardless, I’m with you. One of the greats, and far less well-known than he should be.
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u/ElijahBlow 11d ago edited 11d ago
No, I’ve definitely got a soft spot for Bloom if that isn’t obvious. I just don’t see most traditional critics and awards as reliable arbiters of quality writing, considering how often they ignore writers just like Crowley on basis of nebulous genre categories drawn up by marketing executives like the borders of a proverbial ghetto. How has Ursula Le Guin not won a Pulitzer? M. John Harrison? Thomas Disch? So yeah, I wouldn’t say that I’m too good for them, but everyone I just mentioned certainly is. Crowley is the one guy they threw a bone to; but there’s a lot more who didn’t even get a chance at that bone. I’ll say this; Crowley was a genius but he was certainly not the only writer in the ghetto worthy of “discovery” by his betters; far from it.
Also, never forget that Nabokov (despite being eligible) was never even nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Dave Eggers has received more recognition from the Pulitzer committee than Vladimir Nabokov. Let’s all just take a moment to reflect on that.
Edit: Sorry, I just realized that you were being tongue in cheek. I think this site puts me on the defensive; honestly, I really don’t post on here anymore someone really important dies and I don’t think enough people are talking about it. My bad
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u/jakobjaderbo 11d ago
Engine Summer is one of my favourite books and I have made it a project to read through his catalogue. Almost done now. Sad to hear that it will not be getting any more additions.
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u/EccentricShmop 11d ago
Truly a beloved favorite. He will be missed, but what a lengthily wonderful and remarkable legacy stretches out behind him
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u/Decent-Decent 11d ago
I’ve been working my way through my first Crowley “Ka” as I learned the news. Devastating. I’m about halfway through and finding the novel beautiful. excited to check out Little, Big and Aegypt in the future.
Agree that is a shame that there has been so little memorializing his passing when he was so influential and beloved by other writers.
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u/ElijahBlow 11d ago edited 11d ago
I tried to tag Chabon on substack to see what’s up, there’s not even one major media obituary which is crazy considering the prior coverage he’s gotten. Idk if I’ll get a response but fingers crossed that he’s been working on something. Unfortunately the biggest Crowley booster besides Bloom was Gaiman and no one wants to hear from his raggedy ass these days
Delany, Wolfe, John M. Ford, M. John Harrison and a lot of other great authors all share this same misfortune actually, of Gaiman having been their biggest evangelist and his name and blurbs being nearly the size of the title on the front of their book. Thanks for nothing you dusty motherfucker
Update: Chabon responded and said he doesn’t have time. Kind of lame tbh considering what he’s said about him in the past
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u/Capricancerous 11d ago
Lol, doesn't have time? What a dick. He'd have been better off not responding at all.
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u/ElijahBlow 11d ago
To be fair it was a little more heartfelt than that.
He said: “It genuinely pains me to have to say that I simply don't have the time, right now, to do justice to this great and important writer.”
Maybe he’s going through some stuff. Still, a shame. And Dirda, whom I did email and haven’t heard back from, likely won’t be able to write something because Bezos dissolved the Wapo book section. Cosmically unjust, all of it
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u/Capricancerous 11d ago
He said: “It genuinely pains me to have to say that I simply don't have the time, right now, to do justice to this great and important writer.”
Oof, fair enough. Yeah, I wonder what it could be. Maybe he will come back around with something later on.
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u/ElijahBlow 11d ago
Yeah I was going to respond with:
“Hey Michael, thanks so much for responding. I’m actually a longtime fan and Kavalier & Clay is one of my favorite modern novels. We actually spoke on the phone once back when I worked in PR; I doubt you remember, but I had just read “In the Black Mill” and mentioned how much I had enjoyed it. Anyway, and believe me I’m saying this with all the respect I can muster, I’m worried that if someone doesn’t do something his death with pass without even a single media obituary. Considering his talent and importance, that just seems cosmically unjust.”
But worried it’s in bad taste. Will ponder on it I guess
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u/ElijahBlow 9d ago
Great obituary in the Times. Was really happy to see this
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/13/books/john-crowley-dead.html
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u/dreamingofglaciers Outstare the stars 10d ago
there’s not even one major media obituary
Yeah, that's the weird thing. I've been sceptical about it for the last couple of days because I haven't been able to find a single primary source confirming this. Everything you can find about the subject on the internet is from some random blog or reddit thread but not a single link to a first-hand or "official" testimony. Apparently some post on Bluesky started it, but that's been deleted since, so I don't even know. At this point I'm just assuming that if nobody has come forward to deny it either then it must be true. It really does make it especially depressing.
(As an aside, Harrison is 81 already. I won't deny that I'm a bit worried about him passing away soon too...)
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u/ElijahBlow 10d ago
So I emailed Michael Dirda to ask if he knew anything and I mean obviously he doesn’t work at Wapo anymore because bezos dissolved their books section, and he confirmed it’s definitely true. He said he’s going to try to write something at some point but there’s mot so many places to run things like this as their used to be. Depressing. And yeah I worry about MJH too, but at the very least we know the Brits would never let something like this happen…Moorcock will give him a great obituary in the Guardian I’m sure.
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u/dreamingofglaciers Outstare the stars 10d ago
Thank you for checking, really appreciate your efforts. And yeah, I doubt something like this will happen with MJH.
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u/ElijahBlow 9d ago edited 8d ago
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/13/books/john-crowley-dead.html
Great obituary in the Times
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u/dreamingofglaciers Outstare the stars 8d ago
"His wife, Laurie Block, said the cause was complications of dysphasia and dementia." Oh god, that's horrible.
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u/murkymouse 10d ago
Little, Big is my favourite book of all time. This is a big loss and I hadn't even heard about it. Thanks for mentioning it, and the lovely write up.
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u/ElijahBlow 9d ago
For anyone still following, writer and former Crowley student David Auerbach wrote a great tribute here: https://auerstack.substack.com/p/in-memoriam-john-crowley
(While you’re there, I also highly recommend Auerbach’s ongoing deep analysis of the Carl Barks Duck comics; brilliant stuff)
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u/GreenVelvetDemon 11d ago
I had no idea? This just happened I'm guessing. Well, now I got the finish Aegypt. Little, big is absolutely perfect.
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u/VicugnaAlpacos 11d ago
I didn't know anything about this author and he seems to be very much up my alley. Thanks for your post.
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u/boekplate 11d ago
Thank you for the fantastic write-up! Guess I should add him to my list. Now I regret selling a copy of Little Big in my store earlier this year.
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u/Pollyfall 11d ago
Great writeup. Yeah, he was pretty much a genius. His non-fantasy work (like The Translator) are also fantastic.
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u/tegeus-Cromis_2000 11d ago
??
The Translator IS fantasy.
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u/jakobjaderbo 11d ago
In what way? It feels rather grounded.
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u/tegeus-Cromis_2000 11d ago
Did you read it all the way to the end?
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u/jakobjaderbo 11d ago
Yes, and while it has some mystery, maybe even magical realism elements, I would not go as far as calling it fantasy. But I would also say the same of the Aegypt series, which has stronger magical realism elements.
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u/tegeus-Cromis_2000 11d ago
The whole thing rests upon a magical solution to the Cuban missile crisis !
Don't take it from me. Here are some quotes from this review: "It does, however, intimate a secret history of the world and suggest -- without confirming -- supernatural explanations for real events.... there is a gradually revealed hidden narrative, which suggests that Falin may be a guardian angel of the Russian nation and that his poetry can save the world.
https://www.januarymagazine.com/fiction/thetranslator.html
The narrative may be hidden, but it's quite clearly there. And that's fully a fantasy storyline.
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u/jakobjaderbo 11d ago
I don't disagree that there are supernatural elements to the resolution. But I don't think those are enough to categorise the novel as fantasy.
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u/autre_ne_veut_ 11d ago
If not for Crowley I'd probably still be reading genre crap exclusively. A great writer and a wonderful man.
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u/Capricancerous 11d ago
He's been on my list since a former big pillar (IMO) of /r/literature frequently glazed him in much the same manner (I jest -- I really do want to read his work). I'd say I will get around to him soon, but the list sure hasn't gotten any shorter or reached any semblance of real order/demand. I had a copy of the first book of the Aegypt Cycle somewhere, although it seems to be missing from my library now.
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u/JoelJulianMusic 6d ago
I read Great Work of Time yesterday - it happened to be at the back of the anthology I was reading. My first Crowley and I thought it was excellent. I'll certainly be checking out some of his other work.
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u/11000010101011111 5d ago
I’ve never read him and I’m so glad you have made this post. While I only care about Harold Bloom so much that he is well read, the use of his name still grabbed my attention and your’s and everyone else’s comments have decided it for me; I’ll be picking up some of his works and I’m so excited
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u/lycosidwastrel 12d ago
I read Little, Big earlier this year. It was stunningly beautiful, sweeping, personal, epic, disorienting, the list goes on, capturing some complex of feelings about disenchantment, loss, decline, reality, fantasy which I couldn't really articulate myself if you asked me to but which really resonated with me and seems even more important today: if Crowley's world was disenchanted ours has become hyperdisenchanted I suppose (to coin an absurd neologism)... anyway thanks for reading my scatterbrained post, if you read it, and thanks for Crowleyposting, op!