[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$faggnJFUmYSBh0wd1n-BYzOVpefFWIoy--nDvyypkGm0":3,"$fUPiVSQajAHUS5sNFo1TMHhjPFoN3F6pElxAibHJgZzA":14},{"author":4,"tags":13},{"author_id":5,"author_name":6,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"bio":9,"short_bio":10,"slug":11,"image_url":12},7163,"John Crowley","J",91,"Little, Big is a novel by American author John Crowley and one of his most notable works, following a narrative that has drawn consistent attention among readers of his fiction.\n\nCrowley was born on December 1, 1942, in Presque Isle, and later studied at Indiana University. He has worked across several roles: novelist, screenwriter, and university teacher, and he writes in English. His fiction falls within the science fiction field, though his output as a whole spans more than one format and mode of writing.\n\nAmong his other notable works are Engine Summer, The Solitudes, and Love & Sleep. These titles, alongside Little, Big, make up the body of work for which Crowley is most frequently noted. His career has moved between novel-writing and screenwriting, and he has also held a position as a university teacher, keeping him connected to an academic environment alongside his work as a writer.\n\nCrowley remains an active figure in American letters, identified as both a novelist and a science fiction writer. The range of his notable titles — from Engine Summer to Love & Sleep — reflects a career that has produced fiction across a sustained period of time, with his work in English reaching readers through multiple distinct books rather than a single defining output.","Little, Big is a novel by American author John Crowley and one of his most notable works, following a narrative that has drawn consistent attention among readers of his fiction.","john-crowley",null,[],{"quotes":15,"pagination":80},[16,24,30,37,43,49,55,62,68,74],{"id":17,"quote_text":18,"author_id":5,"source_id":19,"has_image":20,"author":21,"source":22,"quote_tag":23,"commentary":12},3148884,"They wanted eternal life; he gave them perpetual motion. It comes to the same thing, for such a race.",6,false,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":11,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":12},{},[],{"id":25,"quote_text":26,"author_id":5,"source_id":19,"has_image":20,"author":27,"source":28,"quote_tag":29,"commentary":12},3148879,"Stories were the way People lived. Like paths, they could be traveled in any direction, yet always ran from beginning to end.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":11,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":12},{},[],{"id":31,"quote_text":32,"author_id":5,"source_id":19,"has_image":20,"author":33,"source":34,"quote_tag":35,"commentary":36},3148877,"She had understood all that he had said, with no way of knowing what he meant. It was as though he himself existed here in this town in this state in translation, ambiguous, slightly wrong, too highly colored or wrongly nuanced. Within him was the original, which no one could read.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":11,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":12},{},[],"**The Backstory**\n\nThis poignant passage is likely from John Crowley's novel \"A Little, Big\", published in 1981. At that time, Crowley was experimenting with non-linear narrative structures and exploring themes of identity, language, and the human condition. He was also drawn to the idea of translation as a metaphor for the complex relationships between meaning, interpretation, and the self.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\n\nCrowley's words reveal a profound tension between the notion that our inner experiences are uniquely private and yet simultaneously inaccessible even to ourselves. This paradox highlights the inherent ambiguity of language in conveying the depths of human emotion and thought. By positioning the protagonist as \"in translation\", Crowley underscores the idea that our perceptions, thoughts, and feelings are already filtered through the prism of language, which can never fully capture their essence.\n\n**How to Use This**\n\nTo apply this mindset today, consider embracing the provisional nature of self-expression and communication. Instead of striving for precision or authenticity in your creative work or personal interactions, cultivate a sense of \"in translation\" – acknowledging that your words and actions are always already subject to multiple interpretations, nuances, and miscommunications. By doing so, you may find that this ambiguity becomes a catalyst for growth, innovation, and deeper connection with others.",{"id":38,"quote_text":39,"author_id":5,"source_id":19,"has_image":20,"author":40,"source":41,"quote_tag":42,"commentary":12},3148871,"If you know how to read, the World of Books is open to you, after all; and if you like to read, you’ll read. If you don’t, you’ll forget whatever anybody makes you read, anyway.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":11,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":12},{},[],{"id":44,"quote_text":45,"author_id":5,"source_id":19,"has_image":20,"author":46,"source":47,"quote_tag":48,"commentary":12},3148867,"There is more than one history of the world.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":11,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":12},{},[],{"id":50,"quote_text":51,"author_id":5,"source_id":19,"has_image":20,"author":52,"source":53,"quote_tag":54,"commentary":12},3148864,"The Chinese, you know, believe that deep within each of us, no larger than the ball of your thumb, is the garden of the immortals, the great valley where we are all king forever.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":11,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":12},{},[],{"id":56,"quote_text":57,"author_id":5,"source_id":19,"has_image":20,"author":58,"source":59,"quote_tag":60,"commentary":61},3148863,"She knew – she knew by now – that there really can be a person, one at least, that you can embrace as easily and wholly as though the two of you were one thing, a thing that once upon a time was broken into pieces and is now put back together. And how could she know this unless he knew it too? It was part of the wholeness, that he must; and that too she knew. With her he was for a moment whole, they were whole: as whole as an egg, and as fragile.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":11,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":12},{},[],"**The Backstory**\n\nThis poignant passage is likely from John Crowley's novel \"Aegypt,\" a modernist epic that weaves together elements of history, philosophy, and personal introspection. Written in the 1990s, the novel explores themes of wholeness, identity, and the fragmented nature of human experience. The author himself was known for his complex and deeply personal writing style, which often blurred the lines between fiction and memoir.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\n\nThe quote reveals a counter-intuitive truth about intimacy and connection: that true wholeness with another person is not achieved through unity or sameness, but rather through embracing the other's brokenness as an integral part of their shared wholeness. This paradoxical understanding challenges the conventional notion that relationships are built on shared identity or mutual completion.\n\n**How to Use This**\n\nIn applying this mindset today, a modern professional or creative can approach relationships and collaborations with a more nuanced understanding: rather than seeking to \"fix\" or complete others, they can learn to appreciate and even celebrate their differences as essential components of the whole. By embracing the brokenness in themselves and others, individuals can cultivate deeper connections that are not only more resilient but also more authentic.",{"id":63,"quote_text":64,"author_id":5,"source_id":19,"has_image":20,"author":65,"source":66,"quote_tag":67,"commentary":12},3148859,"Aristotle says clearly, and St. Thomas follows him, that corporeal similitudes excite the memory more easily than the naked notions themselves.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":11,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":12},{},[],{"id":69,"quote_text":70,"author_id":5,"source_id":19,"has_image":20,"author":71,"source":72,"quote_tag":73,"commentary":12},3148854,"His heart pounding with fear and elation, and his head humming with the fierce certainty of a sure thing, he kissed her. She responded as though for her too a certainty had proved out, and in the midst of her hair and lips and long arms encircling him, Smoky added a treasure of great price to the small store of his wisdom.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":11,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":12},{},[],{"id":75,"quote_text":76,"author_id":5,"source_id":19,"has_image":20,"author":77,"source":78,"quote_tag":79,"commentary":12},3148850,"Everybody grows up by leaps, and not by a steady climb like a mountaineer.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":11,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":12},{},[],{"currentPage":81,"totalPages":82,"totalItems":8,"itemsPerPage":82},1,10]