Ozick, Cynthia

Ozick, Cynthia
born April 17, 1928, New York, N.Y., U.S.

U.S. novelist and short-story writer.

She graduated from New York University and received an M.A. from Ohio State University. She wrote often on Jewish themes, and much of her work presents a struggle with the notion that artistic creation can be a hubristic attempt to rival the Creator. Among these works are Trust (1966), Leviathan (1982), The Messiah of Stockholm (1987), The Shawl (1990), and The Puttermesser Papers (1997). Her essays have been collected in Art & Ardor (1983), Metaphor & Memory (1989), and Fame & Folly (1996).

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▪ American author
born April 17, 1928, New York, N.Y., U.S.
 
 American novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and intellectual whose works seek to define the challenge of remaining Jewish in contemporary American life. By delving into the oldest religious sources of Judaism, Ozick explored much new territory.

      Ozick received a B.A. in English in 1949 from New York University and an M.A. in 1950 from Ohio State University. Her first novel, Trust (1966), is the story of a woman's rejection of her wealthy American Jewish family and her search for her renegade father in Europe. It has echoes of Henry James (James, Henry) in its juxtaposition of American and European settings. In subsequent books, such as Bloodshed and Three Novellas (1976), Ozick struggled with the idea that the creation of art (a pagan activity) is in direct opposition to principles of Judaism, which forbids the creation of idols. The psychological aftermath of the Holocaust is another theme of her work, especially in Levitation: Five Fictions (1982) and the novels The Cannibal Galaxy (1983) and The Shawl (1989). She often drew upon traditional Jewish mysticism to expand upon her themes. One of her recurring characters is Ruth Puttermesser. In 1997 Ozick published The Puttermesser Papers, a short novel consisting of narratives and false memories of the aging Puttermesser, who in one story brings a female golem to life in order to save New York City, with disastrous results.

      Ozick's later works turn away from the theme of the sacred and the profane. Her novel The Messiah of Stockholm (1987) is, in part, a meditation on the nature of writing. Heir to the Glimmering World (2004; also published as The Bear Boy) tells the story of a young woman hired as a nanny in the home of two Jewish-German academics exiled to New York City in the 1930s. Diction: A Quartet, a collection of four short stories, was published in 2008.

      Many of Ozick's essays have been collected in Art & Ardor (1983), Metaphor & Memory (1989), Fame & Folly (1996), Quarrel & Quandary (2000), and The Din in the Head (2006).

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  • OZICK, CYNTHIA — (1928– ), U.S. writer, best known for literature exploring the opposition between the Jewish and the pagan worlds and the problem of what it means to be a Jew in the U.S. diaspora. Ozick was born in New York to Yiddish speaking Russian Jewish… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Ozick, Cynthia — (b. 1928)    American novelist. She was born in New York. Her writings include The Pagan Rabbi and Other Stories and The Messiah of Stockholm …   Dictionary of Jewish Biography

  • Ozick, Cynthia — (n. 17 abr. 1928, Nueva York, N.Y., EE.UU.). Novelista y cuentista estadounidense. Se graduó de las universidades de Nueva York y recibió un M.A. en la Universidad del estado de Ohio. Suele escribir sobre asuntos judíos y gran parte de su trabajo …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Cynthia Ozick — Born April 17, 1928 (1928 04 17) (age 83) New York City, New York, United States Occupation Writer Nationality American Ethnicity Jewish …   Wikipedia

  • Ozick — Cynthia Ozick (* 17. April 1928 in New York City) ist eine US amerikanische Schriftstellerin jüdischer Herkunft. In Romanen und Erzählungen, die reich an phantastischen und komischen Elementen sind, sowie in einer Fülle pointierter Essays fragt… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cynthia Ozick — (* 17. April 1928 in New York City) ist eine US amerikanische Schriftstellerin jüdischer Herkunft. In Romanen und Erzählungen, die reich an phantastischen und komischen Elementen sind, sowie in einer Fülle pointierter Essays fragt sie nach den… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cynthia Ozick — Cynthia Ozick, essayiste, critique et romancière américaine, est née le 17 avril 1928 à New York. Elle est un des auteurs les plus connus de la littérature juive américaine et surtout connue pour ses écrits sur la vie des juifs… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Cynthia — Gender Female Origin Word/Name Greek Meaning from Mount Cynthus Other names Related names …   Wikipedia

  • Cynthia — ist auch ein im englischen Sprachraum verbreiteter weiblicher Vorname. Die Kurz und Koseform ist Cindy. Bekannte Namensträgerinnen Edwina Cynthia Annette Ashley (1901–1960), britische Adlige Cynthia Carroll (* 1957), US amerikanische… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ozick —   [ əʊzɪk], Cynthia, amerikanische Schriftstellerin, * New York 17. 4. 1928; befasst sich in ihren Romanen und Erzählungen, die durch eine fantastische und mystische Elemente einbeziehende Erzählweise gekennzeichnet sind, sowie in ihren Essays… …   Universal-Lexikon

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