Word: ozick
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Occasionally, however, some make a noble effort to link these two strands of thought. Such is the case of Joseph Brill, the protagonist of Cynthia Ozick's latest novel. The Cannibal Galaxy. In large part, the success of the novel hinges on Ozick's ability to underscore the sense of anguish within her characters by sophisticated understatement. While Brill experiences travesties of monumental impact, he internalizes much of his anguish, ironically heightening its impact on the reader. More important, Brill's determination to carry out what he regards as his mission in the face of these obstacles endows him with...
...Cynthia Ozick •Cathedral, Raymond Carver •Franz Kafka...
...grant has made it possible for Ozick to stop lecturing, as she has done for the past twelve years, speaking on "Jewish subjects, feminist subjects, literary subjects and sometimes all three mixed together." She was never nervous, she says. "I didn't do it extemporaneously. I had my paper. And I'm nearsighted, so I couldn't see all those people out there. Sometimes I would do a dozen lectures a year. I had to prepare them, but the intellectual preparation was never as hard as finding a pair of pantyhose without holes...
...Says Ozick: "It just seems unreal to be 55-that's for one's mother. I find it's a kind of second adolescence, though much harder. Physical changes, like having your hair turn white, must be at least the equivalent of being a little girl growing breasts. Before, you were always full of the future: some day you are going to do this. And some day is here or it's never going to be here. It's frightening, as if a needle got stuck in the record of life...
...Ozick is currently translating poetry for a new Penguin edition of Yiddish verse, edited by Irving Howe and Ruth Wisse. It is a labor of love. "It's so wonderful to make another poem in English and to set yourself up in rivalry with the original. It's the only writing I find enjoyable. All other writing is so painful; I would do anything to avoid writing. That's probably why I read so much. But reading inspires and leads to hope for more writing...