“Fame is pursued,” Cynthia Ozick says. “Recognition accrues.” Recognition comes with being read, and for much of her writing life, Ozick, who turns 97 in April, maintained that she wasn’t. Never mind ...

The book was sold out, and the friendly clerk at the bookstore handed me Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace instead. I bought it, along with a couple of others, and perhaps three or four years ...