Cynthia Ozick was born on April I?, 1928, in New York City. Her parents, William and Celia (Regelson) Ozick, had come to the United States from north­western Russia. In addition to his work as a pharma­cist, William was a Jewish scholar. Ozick considers herself a feminist and claims she became one at the age of five, when her grandmother took her to heder, a school for the study of Hebrew and the Torah. The rabbi told Ozick's grandmother to take her home, since" a girl doesn't have to study." Ozick returned the next day and quickly established herself as a good student.

She continued her education at Hunter College High School, then at New York University, from which she graduated in 1949 with a B.A. in English. She received an M.A. in English from Ohio State University in 1950.

Throughout the 1950s, Ozick...