Novelties & Souvenirs: Collected Short Fiction

John Crowley is an exemplary writer, whose novels have always struck me with the depth and quality of their insight. This short story collection is a superb addition to the library. The advantage of the short story is that the writer has more opportunity to experiment, since less time is invested, and the goals of a short story are generally more limited than those of a novel. The only story I'd give less than five stars to is also one of the older ones, "The Green Child," which struck me as less a story than imaginary reportage. Unless the review is to be as long as the collection, which is the only way to do this collection justice, I'll just hit a few of the stories. "Antiquities" is a marvelous tale, and the style impressed me as Crowley has the knack of using just the right word to convey not only an action but the manner of the action. Such precision is all too rare. "Snow" was nominated for a Hugo award for the year it appeared and deserved the award. Unfortunately, it was a banner year for good writing and the story didn't win. In this story, Crowley plays with one of his recurring themes, that memory changes and ages. The insights are, as always, trenchant. "The Nightingale Sings at Night" is a wonderful creation myth story, the vocabulary and mannerisms perfectly adapted to the story itself. Crowley has mastered many styles and seems to select them to suit each story. This story reminded me somewhat of Kipling's "Just So" stories. "Novelty," on the other hand, reminded me of James Joyce. The story is told within a story. The basic story is simple enough: A man enters a bar, orders a drink, mildly flirts with a woman who turns out to be the bartender's wife, and leaves. Within that framework, however, deep and subtle movements take place, and the result is that the apparent story is only the tip of the iceberg, the most important part hidden below the surface. "Great Work of Time" is the longest story in the book and covers more than most doorstop novels. What would happen if history were changeable, could be directed, and memory was an illusion? The story shows us a corridor with doors that can only be opened one at a time, without being able to remember what had hid behind the previous door. It's a dizzying work, as are several of the stories, as one tries to grasp the concepts Crowley seems to have mastered as easily as breathing. "The War Between the Objects and the Subjects" rather reminded me of Twain, when he was being playful with the language. Crowley is not for every reader. He is a challenging, demanding writer, but nothing great is achieved without challenge. No one celebrates climbing a molehill. The accomplishment lies in meeting the challenge, and the rewards Crowley offers those who accept the challenge more than equal the effort required.

John Crowley is one the best and most underappreciated writers alive. His talent is comparable to that of William Trevor, John Banville, or Calvino. The stories in this collection are uniformly powerful and ingenious, incredibly clever especially when they start out under the guise of genre stories and become something much, much more, like the one about Virginia Woolf's visit, which manages in a few short pages to say something universal about the nature of time (and has an impact as powerful as, say, Amis's "Time's Arrow," which took a whole novel to make its point). I strongly encourage anyone who loves innovative literature and deep, engaging prose to read this book (and Crowley's other work, as well).

John Crowley's well-deserved recognition as one of the best literary stylists writing in the English language is readily apparent in these four fantasy novellas that date from the late 1980's. His "Great Work of Time" is an intriguing Rashomon-esque time travel fantasy about Cecil Rhodes and British economic imperialism in East Africa at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. It was almost as compelling a read as the "The Nightingale Sings At Night", which offers a fantastical twist on the Adam and Eve creation myth saga. The other two tales, "In Blue" and "Novelty", I found much less compelling, but they are redeemed by the same lyrical prose Crowley uses in other tales. It was a wonderful surprise to find this book at a library; a surprise which I think many readers will also discover.

This collection of four stories by John Crowley covers a wide range of themes and styles. Here's the breakdown by story.The Nightingale Sings at Night is Crowley's version of a Creation and Fall myth that is clever and cute but lacking the depth of meaning and rich textures that I've grown accustomed to in his writing.Great Work of Time is a strong entry with vivid descriptions that evoke the proper mood for the times and places we're shown. Crowley presents a unique concept for time travel and the "effects" of altering the past. But he falls into the same trap many writers before him have in writing time traveling stories: eventually he over explains his idea in pages of exposition. Crowley is such a talented writer I felt he could easily have written these portions instead as events in the story, subtly building the air of mystery he so successfully achieves in the rest of the narrative. Some of these passages read more like notes to himself than useful story devices and the overall effect is that this tale would be a good candidate for a rewrite in an expanded and more fleshed out form. The all too brief glimpse into the future shows us a wonderfully distorted world inhabited by strange creatures, but we never learn much about them. I really wanted more. Overall, what's present is classic Crowley, but seems somehow unfinished.With the story In Blue, Crowley departs from sensuous descriptions in favor of a more sparse style to evoke the sterile world in which his characters move (reminding me of a Kubrik film). Every event that happens and thought that Hare has adds to his breakdown in a believable way. But what I still have not reconciled is Crowley's attitude towards this world. At first it all appears a set up for an indictment of the catch-22 logic of this mild mannered dystopia, but what are we to think when Hare eventually finds his place in the Revolution? I'll be mulling this one over for some time to come.And in Novelty we see possibly the kernel of inspiration for the Aegypt books. There are strong parallels between the writer character in Novelty and Pierce Moffett, both impotently trying to convey mystical deep meanings that seemingly lose their impact once expressed. This one was a little hard to get into at first. For me, writers writing about (not) writing ranks up there with films about filmmaking. Can it be well done? Yes, but it still seems too self-involved. Novelty is rather short, though, and by the end I was engrossed, mainly because the writer character gets around to describing what he wants to write instead of describing how he can't get around to writing. In fact, these passages read more like poetry than prose and coalesce beautifully.I highly recommend this book for Crowley fans. But for those unfamiliar with him, Otherwise: Three Novels might be a better place to start. Engine Summer alone is worth the price of admission.

Includes Great Work of Time, In Blue, Why the Nightengale Sings at Night, and the title peice, Novelty. Everything here is very good, in particular the first two selections. In Blue did not do much for me and Novelty, which is a look into Crowley's creative thought process, while interesting, is not something I would recommend to a casual reader. Anyway, I loved the stories and would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Crowley's longer fiction.