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Conversation Hearts
A new novelette by the award-winning author of LITTLE, BIG.
- GenresFiction
63 pages, Hardcover
First published September 30, 2008
About the author
John Crowley
127 books849 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
John Crowley was born in Presque Isle, Maine, 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 15th volume of fiction (Endless Things) in 2007. 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 100 Best Science Fiction Novels.
In 1981 came Little, Big, which Ursula Le Guin described as a book that “all by itself calls for a redefinition of fantasy.”
In 1980 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 Flaianno (Italy), and Lord Byron’s Novel: The Evening Land, which contains an entire imaginary novel by the poet. 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.
Note: The John Crowley who wrote Sans épines, la rose: Tony Blair, un modèle pour l'Europe? is a different author with the same name. (website)
John Crowley was born in Presque Isle, Maine, 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 15th volume of fiction (Endless Things) in 2007. 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 100 Best Science Fiction Novels.
In 1981 came Little, Big, which Ursula Le Guin described as a book that “all by itself calls for a redefinition of fantasy.”
In 1980 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 Flaianno (Italy), and Lord Byron’s Novel: The Evening Land, which contains an entire imaginary novel by the poet. 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.
Note: The John Crowley who wrote Sans épines, la rose: Tony Blair, un modèle pour l'Europe? is a different author with the same name. (website)
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 30, 2008
Conversation Hearts is the new novella by John Crowley, author of Little, Big and the AEgypt cycle. In Conversation Hearts Crowley takes a very slim volume and manages to use every word of it to the fullest effect in order to say a great many things.
There are touching family moments. There is commentary on what it is to be different and whether that difference is worth noting. There are musings on the publishing industry and on the relationship between a writer and reader. There's even a bit of suspense. And it's all packaged in a 65-page novella.
Given that length, there's not a great deal of time spent ruminating within the text over the issues. Rather, Crowley presents an idea here or there in such a way that asks the reader to spend a little time on his or her own thinking it over. The concepts are almost presented in what could be considered the literary equivalent of conversation hearts themselves -- small snippets which say something simple and can be taken as such, though depending on context can mean much more.
The basic structure of the book is that of a children's chapter story written by one of the main characters nested within a real-world story taking place on Valentine's Eve. It's through the interplay between the main storyline and the nested chilren's story that the issues Crowley is exploring take on context and depth. The life trials that the main characters are facing are mirrored in the children's book in a way that brings them to light and examines them from a different perspective.
While not as beautiful as Little, Big or as difficult and weighty as the AEgypt cycle, Conversation Hearts brings to the table many of the things that make John Crowley's writing great, but in a small, quickly-read package.
The biggest negative I can mention here is the price tag. I have reservations about recommending a book that takes less than an hour to read but has a cover price of $20(US). Such is the nature of smaller presses, though. Having only had a proof in hand, I can't speak to the beauty of the final product, but I would expect a very beautiful book-as-object out of Subterranean's initial run of the book.
(This review originally published at SFFWorld.com)
There are touching family moments. There is commentary on what it is to be different and whether that difference is worth noting. There are musings on the publishing industry and on the relationship between a writer and reader. There's even a bit of suspense. And it's all packaged in a 65-page novella.
Given that length, there's not a great deal of time spent ruminating within the text over the issues. Rather, Crowley presents an idea here or there in such a way that asks the reader to spend a little time on his or her own thinking it over. The concepts are almost presented in what could be considered the literary equivalent of conversation hearts themselves -- small snippets which say something simple and can be taken as such, though depending on context can mean much more.
The basic structure of the book is that of a children's chapter story written by one of the main characters nested within a real-world story taking place on Valentine's Eve. It's through the interplay between the main storyline and the nested chilren's story that the issues Crowley is exploring take on context and depth. The life trials that the main characters are facing are mirrored in the children's book in a way that brings them to light and examines them from a different perspective.
While not as beautiful as Little, Big or as difficult and weighty as the AEgypt cycle, Conversation Hearts brings to the table many of the things that make John Crowley's writing great, but in a small, quickly-read package.
The biggest negative I can mention here is the price tag. I have reservations about recommending a book that takes less than an hour to read but has a cover price of $20(US). Such is the nature of smaller presses, though. Having only had a proof in hand, I can't speak to the beauty of the final product, but I would expect a very beautiful book-as-object out of Subterranean's initial run of the book.
(This review originally published at SFFWorld.com)
June 26, 2017
Valentines Day, snow storms, handicaps and parenthood.
This odd little novella has both a very obvious message on its surface and a more subtle message-kernel at its heart which may be easy to miss. Read in the best light, the book has something important to say about resisting the Cult of Victimhood and the scrappy, demanding spectacle that has come of democratic-egalitarian moralism today.
[Second reading, June 2017.]
This odd little novella has both a very obvious message on its surface and a more subtle message-kernel at its heart which may be easy to miss. Read in the best light, the book has something important to say about resisting the Cult of Victimhood and the scrappy, demanding spectacle that has come of democratic-egalitarian moralism today.
[Second reading, June 2017.]
October 18, 2010
I loved this book! It's short, so a quick read. The chapters alternate from an author to the book she's written. Gives a good message without beating you over the head.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews