puttermesser
1999 Shortlist

The Puttermesser Papers

ABOUT
THE BOOK

Ruth Puttermesser, yearning for a life of the mind (her idol is George Eliot), finds herself mired in the lowest circles of city bureaucracy. Her love life is hopeless. Her fantasies are more influential than reality – she takes Hebrew lessons from an uncle who died before she was born; she makes a golem out of the earth of her houseplants. Still, she turns out to be the best mayor New York City ever elected. Soon enough, though, paradise gained becomes paradise lost, and the impact of getting exactly what you want and then losing it plays itself out in dramatic and surprising fashion. Cynthia Ozick has won many awards and prizes for her writing, including the American Academy of Arts. She lives near New York City.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Cynthia
Ozick

Cynthia Ozick has won widespread acclaim for her novels and short stories depicting the Jewish-American experience and for her memorable, nuanced female characters. Ozick studied at a boy’s heder, gaining an early love of Yiddish and of Jewish culture that would infuse her work. She went on to Ohio State University, discovering a passion for Henry James, whose writing deeply influenced her own. Her first published novel, Trust, appeared in 1966, followed by five more novels, fourteen collections of short stories and essays, and two plays. She has received the highest honors in the literary world for her powerful and challenging prose: three O. Henry prizes, fellowships from Guggenheim and the National Endowment for the Arts, two PEN awards, and a National Book Critics Circle Award (from Jewish Women’s Archive).

Cynthia Ozick has won widespread acclaim for her novels and short stories depicting the Jewish-American experience and for her memorable, nuanced female characters. Ozick studied at a boy’s heder, gaining an early love of Yiddish and of Jewish culture that would infuse her work. She went on to Ohio State University, discovering a passion for Henry James, whose writing deeply influenced her own. Her first published novel, Trust, appeared in 1966, followed by five more novels, fourteen collections of short stories and essays, and two plays. She has received the highest honors in the literary world for her powerful and challenging prose: three O. Henry prizes, fellowships from Guggenheim and the National Endowment for the Arts, two PEN awards, and a National Book Critics Circle Award (from Jewish Women’s Archive).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Date published
27/05/1997
Country
United States
Original Language
English
Author
Publisher
Alfred A. Knopf

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