Dictation: A Quartet

by Cynthia Ozick

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194	12	141,357	(3.47)	19
Four stories of comedy, deception, and revenge (including one previously unpublished) showcases heroes who suffer from willful self-deceit. These not-so-innocents proceed from self-deception to deceiving others, who do not take it lightly. The novella "Dictation" imagines a fateful meeting between the secretaries to Henry James and Joseph Conrad at the peak of their fame. Timid Miss Hallowes, who types for Conrad, comes under the influence of James's Miss Bosanquet, high-spirited, flirtatious, and scheming. In a masterstroke of genius, Ozick hatches a plot between them to insert themselves into posterity.--From publisher description.… (more)

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I enjoyed this, but after some years since reading it, I don't recall enough to discuss it. (

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mykl-s | Aug 13, 2023 |

I'm a little conflicted about this short collection because the two middle stories I find kind of puzzling, but I really liked the title story and the last ("What Happened to the Baby") very satisfying. Ozick again (I've mentioned a couple of her books before) here displays sort of dazzling creativity and a concern for big things like art and creative agency and human suffering that I find admirable. I'd like to read this collection again in a few years and will certainly keep reading Ozick. (

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dllh | Jan 6, 2021 |

I am mixed about these four stories. I was delighted by the first one, ambivilent about the second, disliked the third and was blown away by the fourth.

Ozick really has a gift for capturing place - the Catskill bungalow, the London tearoom, the Italian country road, the musty apartment of an elderly relative. Even the stories I didn't care for have a resounding sense of place.
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laurenbufferd | Nov 14, 2016 |

I'm fairly certain that when I first bought this I didn't realize it was short stories; I thought it was all one novel about Conrad and James' secretaries and nothing else. I also didn't realize this was going to be such a literary work.

That being said the only story I really enjoyed was Dictation. The other stories didn't entertain me as much and were mostly too heavy and serious for my mood. Goes to show that I should pay more attention. (

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Rosa.Mill | Nov 21, 2015 |

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Rosa.Mill | Nov 21, 2015 |

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The New York Times Notable Books of the Year (Fiction & Poetry – 2008)

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Dictaat : een kwartet

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2008 (Engels)

2009 (Nederlands)

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In the early summer of 1901, Lamb House, Henry James's exurban domicile in Rye, was crowded with flowers.

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▾Book descriptions

Four stories of comedy, deception, and revenge (including one previously unpublished) showcases heroes who suffer from willful self-deceit. These not-so-innocents proceed from self-deception to deceiving others, who do not take it lightly. The novella "Dictation" imagines a fateful meeting between the secretaries to Henry James and Joseph Conrad at the peak of their fame. Timid Miss Hallowes, who types for Conrad, comes under the influence of James's Miss Bosanquet, high-spirited, flirtatious, and scheming. In a masterstroke of genius, Ozick hatches a plot between them to insert themselves into posterity.--From publisher description.

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