SOURCE: Klingenstein, Susanne. “‘In Life I Am Not Free’: The Writer Cynthia Ozick and Her Jewish Obligations.” In Daughters of Valor: Contemporary Jewish American Women Writers, edited by Jay L Halio and Ben Siegel, pp. 48–79. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1997.

In the following essay, Klingenstein examines Ozick's reflections on her Jewish and American identities.

Writer Without Program

It is a truth universally acknowledged that biographies are a species of fiction. The hard reality of this truth dawned on me when I was invited to contribute a portrait of Cynthia Ozick to this collection of essays. My friend for many years, she is also a literary intellectual whose mind has profoundly shaped the direction of my work. I realized quickly that despite my familiarity with many facets of her life and work, I would not be able to grasp her inner gestalt. Ozick's fundamental sense of self, the core...