Cynthia Ozick (born April 17, 1928) is an American short story writer, novelist, and essayist.

Biography

Cynthia Ozick was born in New York City. The second of two children, Ozick was raised in the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

by her parents, Celia (née Regelson) and William Ozick. They were Jewish immigrants from Russia, and proprietors of the Park View Pharmacy in the Pelham Bay neighborhood. She attended

Hunter College High School Hunter College High School is a public academic magnet secondary school located in the Carnegie Hill section of the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is administered and funded by Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY) and no t ...

in Manhattan. She earned her B.A. from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and went on to study at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

, where she completed an M.A. in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

, focusing on the novels of

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

. She appears briefly in the film '' Town Bloody Hall'', where she asks

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...

, "in ''Advertisements for Myself'' you said, quote, 'A good novelist can do without everything but the remnant of his balls'. For years and years I've been wondering, Mr. Mailer, when you dip your balls in ink, what color ink is it?". Ozick was married to Bernard Hallote, a lawyer, until his death in 2017. Their daughter, Rachel Hallote, is a professor of history at

SUNY Purchase The State University of New York at Purchase, commonly referred to as Purchase College or SUNY Purchase, is a Public college, public Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. Established in 1967 by G ...

and head of its

Jewish studies Jewish studies (or Judaic studies; ) is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history (especially Jewish history), Middle Eastern studies, Asian studies, ...

program. Ozick is the niece of the Hebraist Abraham Regelson. Yale University has acquired her literary papers. A forthcoming special issue of ''Studies in Jewish American Literature'' will examine her contributions to the art of non-fiction.

Literary themes

Ozick's fiction and essays are often about

Jewish American American Jews (; ) or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by culture, ethnicity, or religion. According to a 2020 poll conducted by Pew Research, approximately two thirds of American Jews identify as Ashkenazi, 3% id ...

life, but she also writes about politics, history, and literary criticism. In addition, she has written and translated poetry.

occupies a central place in her fiction and nonfiction. The critic Adam Kirsch wrote that her "career-long ''agon'' with Henry James... reaches a kind of culmination in ''Foreign Bodies'', her polemical rewriting of '' The Ambassadors''."

The Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

and its aftermath is also a dominant theme. For instance in "Who Owns Anne Frank?" she writes that the diary's true meaning has been distorted and eviscerated "by blurb and stage, by shrewdness and naiveté, by cowardice and spirituality, by forgiveness and indifference." Much of her work explores the disparaged self, the reconstruction of identity after immigration, trauma and movement from one class to another. She has also written on the subject of Jewish feminism. Her 1976 essay “Notes Toward Finding the Right Question” examined emergent Jewish feminist theology and argued that women’s inequality was not in question in Scripture, but in the misogyny of

halakha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...

. Her essay “Torah as the Matrix of Feminism” argued that the basis for feminism and gender equality emerged directly from the theology of the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

. Ozick says that writing is not a choice but "a kind of hallucinatory madness. You will do it no matter what. You can't not do it." She sees the "freedom in the delectable sense of making things up" as coexisting with the "torment" of writing. On the occasion of the publication of ''In a Yellow Wood'', a collection from Everyman's Library of her short stories and essays, Ozick remarked on the "profound jubilation of writing...when you're carried away by unexpected forces."

Awards and critical acclaim

In 1971, Ozick received the Edward Lewis Wallant Award and the

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1943, is an American organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature. The goal of the council, as stated on its website, is "to promote the reading, writing and publishing of qual ...

for her short story collection '' The Pagan Rabbi and Other Stories''. For ''Bloodshed and Three Novellas'', she received, in 1977, The National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. In 1997, she received the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay for ''Fame and Folly''. Four of her stories won first prize in the O. Henry competition. In 1986, she was selected as the first winner of the Rea Award for the Short Story. In 2000, she won the

National Book Critics Circle The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American nonprofit organization (501(c) organization, 501(c)(3)) with more than 700 members. It is the professional association of American book review editors and critics, known primarily for the N ...

Award for ''Quarrel & Quandary''. Her novel ''Heir to the Glimmering World'' (2004) (published as ''The Bear Boy'' in the United Kingdom) won high literary praise. Ozick was on the shortlist for the 2005 Man Booker International Prize, and in 2008 she was awarded the PEN/Nabokov Award and the PEN/Malamud Award, which was established by

Bernard Malamud Bernard Malamud (April 26, 1914 – March 18, 1986) was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Norman Mailer and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish ...

's family to honor excellence in the art of the short story. Her novel ''Foreign Bodies'' was shortlisted for the Orange Prize (2012) and the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize (2013). The novelist

David Foster Wallace David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American writer and professor who published novels, short stories, and essays. He is best known for his 1996 novel ''Infinite Jest'', which ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine ...

called Ozick one of the greatest living

American writers The Lists of American writers include: United States By ethnicity *List of African-American writers *List of Asian American writers, List of Asian-American writers *List of Cuban American writers, List of Cuban-American writers *List of Egypti ...

. She has been described as "the

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

of America's literary pantheon", the "

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

of the Bronx", and "one of the most accomplished and graceful literary stylists of her time".

Bibliography

Novels

* ''Trust'' (1966) * ''The Cannibal Galaxy'' (1983) * ''The Messiah of Stockholm'' (1987) * ''The Puttermesser Papers'' (1997) * ''Heir to the Glimmering World'' (2004) (published in the United Kingdom in 2005 as ''The Bear Boy'') * ''Foreign Bodies'' (2010) * ''Antiquities'' (2021)

Short fiction

;Collections * '' The Pagan Rabbi and Other Stories'' (1971) * ''Bloodshed and Three Novellas'' (1976) * ''Levitation: Five Fictions'' (1982) * ''Envy; or, Yiddish in America'' (1969) * '' The Shawl'' (1989) * ''Collected Stories'' (2007) * '' Dictation: A Quartet'' (2008) * ''Antiquities and Other Stories'' (2022) ;StoriesShort stories unless otherwise noted.

Drama

* ''Blue Light'' (1994)

Non-fiction

;Essay collections * ''All the World Wants the Jews Dead'' (1974) * ''Art and Ardor'' (1983) * ''Metaphor & Memory'' (1989) * ''What Henry James Knew and Other Essays on Writers'' (1993) * ''Fame & Folly: Essays'' (1996) * "SHE: Portrait of the Essay as a warm body" (1998) * ''Quarrel & Quandary'' (2000) * ''The Din in the Head: Essays'' (2006) * ''Critics, Monsters, Fanatics, and Other Literary Essays'' (2016) * David Miller, ed. Letters of Intent: Selected Essays (2017) ;Miscellaneous * ''A Cynthia Ozick Reader'' (1996) * ''The Complete Works of Isaac Babel'' (introduction 2001) * ''Fistfuls of Masterpieces''

Critical studies and reviews of Ozick's work

* 2000 ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'':
The Girl Who Would Be James
by John Sutherland (on Ozick's book ''Quarrel & Quandary'') * 2002 '' Partisan Review'':
Cynthia Ozick, Aesthete
by Sanford Pinsker * 2005 ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'':
The World is Not Enough
by Ali Smith (on Ozick's book ''The Bear Boy'') * 2006 ''The New York Times Book Review'':

, by Walter Kirn (on Ozick's book ''The Din in the Head'') * 2010 ''The New York Times Book Review'':

, by Thomas Mallon (on Ozick's book ''Foreign Bodies'') * 2010 ''The New York Times Book Review'':

, by Charles McGrath (on Ozick's book ''Foreign Bodies'') ——————— ;Notes

References

External links

* *
Jewish Women's Archive page
at City Arts
Cynthia Ozick Interview
at The Morning News *199
interview about ''The Puttermesser Papers''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ozick, Cynthia Hunter College High School alumni Writers from New Rochelle, New York 1928 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers 21st-century American women writers American people of Belarusian-Jewish descent American women novelists American women short story writers Jewish American novelists Jewish American short story writers Jewish women writers Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters National Humanities Medal recipients New York University alumni The New Yorker people Novelists from New York (state) O. Henry Award winners Ohio State University Graduate School alumni National Book Critics Circle Award winners PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award winners PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners PEN/Malamud Award winners PEN/Nabokov Award winners American postmodern writers American Zionists Writers from New York City