Ægypt
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Ægypt is a sequence of four novels by John Crowley detailing the work and life of Pierce Moffett, who prepares a manuscript for publication even as it prepares him for some as-of-yet unknown destiny, all set amidst strange and subtle Hermetic manipulations among the Faraway Hills of New York. The narrative of the manuscript in question, historical fiction following the briefly intersecting adventures of Italian heretic Giordano Bruno and of British occultists John Dee and Edward Kelley, mingles with the narrative of Pierce's real and dream life in 1970s America.
Bantam Books decided to re-title and publicize The Solitudes, the initial volume, as Ægypt—the series title—despite Crowley's objections.
The novels in the sequence are:
- The Solitudes (1987, revised 2007)
- Love & Sleep (1994)
- Dæmonomania (2000)
- Endless Things (2007)
Each of the titles in the tetralogy is a tribute to a Renaissance literary work; and in many cases the nature of the works redound on the action of the novels themselves.
- Góngora's Soledades, an unfinished poem in four parts of quotidian lives in elevated language (!)
- Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a dreamlike narrative
- De la démonomanie des sorciers, a witch-hunting manual by Jean Bodin
The final novel in the sequence is entitled Endless Things and it was published in May 2007.
The series is organized around the 12 astrological houses, with each book divided into three parts, each bearing a Latin name of the corresponding house. The Solitudes' parts, for example, are called "Vita", "Lucrum" and "Fratres", the Latin names for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd houses. [1] The content of each part bears some relationship to the traditional associations of the house in question.
Harold Bloom has praised the first three books in the sequence, installing the first two in his 1993 list of the Western canon. Michael Dirda, asked in 2007 what his favorite recent book was, named "the four-part sequence by John Crowley called 'Aegypt.'"
