‘John Crowley, an author of sweeping fantastical narratives whose ability to blend such disparate material as American history, dreams of lost utopias and “Alice in Wonderland”-tinged occult allowed him to transcend the fantasy genre in novels like “Little, Big,” which the critic Harold Bloom called a “neglected masterpiece,” died on Sunday at his home in Conway, Mass. He was 83…

…His work drew comparisons to C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and Thomas Pynchon; reviewers recognized notes of Dante, Shakespeare and Lewis Carroll. Writing in The Washington Post in 2000, the critic Michael Dirda called Mr. Crowley “arguably the most original and accomplished American fantasy writer ever.”…’