A Cynthia Ozick Reader
These two collections reflect the imaginative, inventive, and insightful Ozick. Some of the best of Ozick as poet, essayist, and fiction writer is represented in A Cynthia Ozick Reader, including the poems "Greeks," "The Fish in the Net," and "When That with Tragic Rapture Moses Stood" and the short stories "Envy," "Virility," and "Puttermesser and Xanthippe." Besides seven poems and seven fiction pieces, including a selection from Ozick's epic novel, Trust, there are eight provocative essays taken from her previous collections, focusing on the secret humanness underlying the literary lives of Virginia Woolf and Edith Wharton, the demise of a literary culture, classical vs. modern feminism, and her cherished Henry James. This anthology is a good introduction to the range of styles, themes, and ideas in her writing. Essayist Ozick shines further in Fame & Folly, a new collection of 17 typically provocative, sometimes witty essays. Most of these focus on the various life experiences, foibles, and follies of selected literary figures. In the first essay, "T.S. Eliot at 101," Ozick reflects on how Eliot was revered in colleges in the Forties, Fifties, and early Sixties and is almost ignored today. She revisits Eliot in "Helping T. S. Eliot Write Better," an entertaining literary spoof in which, among other things, confusion between T.S. Eliot and George Eliot reigns. In other essays, Ozick focuses on Christian heroism and the Holocaust or reflects on the state of American culture, while a couple of the essays are short fictional pieces. The wide variations in themes and length tend to make this collection uneven and jumbled. Separating the pieces into at least two distinct categories would have lessened frustration for readers. Nevertheless, the essays are well worth reading. Both of these collections should be in public and academic libraries.?Jeris Cassel, Rutgers Univ. Libs., New Brunswick, N.J.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.