Pagan Rabbi and Other Stories

From the first and second piece in this collection, the reader thinks that Ozick is a more Americanized version of Isaac Singer. But there are surprising twists along the way. The Pagan Rabbi is about a rabbi who finds the divine (and destruction) in the worship of Nature. Envy; or Yiddish in America, is a fine elegy of a language and the perils of translation. The Suitcase, a story of an émigré painter. The Dock Witch, a modern tale of a witch who sucks the vital essence of her men. The Doctor's Wife, a curious story of a man broken by remorse and fantasy. The Butterfly and the Traffic Light, a very short allegory of transformation and its dangers. And Virility, a tale of a set during and just after the First World War, but told through the lens of a one-hundred year old narrator who lives in a utopian future. Taken individually, the stories are not unique or surprising. Ozick's endings are conventional and fail to do justice to the strength behind. But the unconventional coupling of these stories when strung together make for excellent reading. Here the collection is stronger than its building blocks.

These are stories that Ozick published in the late 1960's and 1971. Despite the early date of composition, one can clearly see her brilliance in her writing style. Her ability to string words together in a line, on a page, makes her one of the finest articulationists in business today. In particular, Ozick focuses on man's relationship to the spiritual world. And also, the manner in which these two worlds interact with each other. Often people seem to forget, that men and women who have a spiritual calling are also, just men and women. In addition it is sometimes forgotten; that regular men and women, sometimes may be very spiritual. But that too is a subject for Ozick in her book, the difference between men and women, or in particular, the manner in which the world reacts to them. She examines this in interesting detail in her story "Virility." And within her story "The Doctor's Wife" she reveals a perfectly exquisite line "... that the worthlessness of everything was just what gave everything its worth" creates a unique perspective for the reader. It is interesting to consider life as being worthless, particularly in an existential manner, but can one also see, this very existential worthlessness truly imparts worth, not only denigrates that which seems to have none. As always, the brilliance of Ozick's compositional ability cannot be ignored. This book is recommended for all who find beauty in the written word, when portrayed with such elegance.

Demonstrating once more that Cynthia Ozick has an astonishing ability to capture accurately the secret desires, fears, and milieu of her characters. By turns funny, tragic, and corrosive. Worth buying for the story (or essay?) "Envy; or Yiddish in America" alone. You'll never think about Isaac Bashevis Singer the same way again.