The writer as a child
If you find 鈥淒ictation,鈥� Cynthia Ozick鈥檚 new collection of short stories as charming as I do, you might want to further treat yourself by finding a collection of Ozick鈥檚 writings that contains 鈥淎 Drugstore in Winter.鈥�
Ozick鈥檚 parents were the proprietors of a pharmacy in the Pelham Bay section of the Bronx, NY, in the 1930s. In those days, a traveling library used to visit the Ozick鈥檚 neighborhood. At the end of their long day, the weary librarians would come to the Ozick鈥檚 pharmacy and drink coffee at the counter.
In those moments of dusk, Ozick 鈥� blissfully 鈥� dipped into their boxes of books. And right then and there, a reader 鈥� and, eventually, a writer 鈥� was born. It鈥檚 a pleasure to look at 鈥淒ictation鈥� 鈥� the work of a skilled and seasoned writer 鈥� and think of the little girl who once cut her teeth on fairy tales.
