Skip to content

Cynthia Ozick: The Puttermesser Papers

(Fiction, 256 pp. 1997)

In a modern urban version of a classic Jewish myth, Ozick offers her take on the Golem. Visionary and malcontent Ruth Puttermesser stars in this surrealistic tale of destruction and rebirth.  

  • Discussion guide: The Jewish Reader, February 2002 (including review by Shoshana Marchand, Philip Graubart interviews Cynthia Ozick, and discussion questions)
  • Review: Kirkus
  • Review by Jack Miles, New York Times, June 15, 1997
  • Biographical sketch by Joseph Lowin
  • Video: Conversation with Cynthia Ozick (about The Shawl first 13 minutes are about Ozick’s early life) (23 min.)