Blood-shed Bloodshed - Cynthia Ozick - First Edition 1976

Usefully prefaced by the author, Bloodshed is a nice, small collection that shows off the many facets of Ozick's fiction. 

The first story, with its mercenary title, comes with an epigraph by Goebbels - a surprising gauntlet for Ozick to throw at the reader's feet. A sly, elegant story of two diplomats, Ozick ventures into at least some new territory with the African Morris Ngambe and the "politically African" Pole Stanislav Lushinski, a "Paid Mouthpiece" for an African country. One wonders how the story will stand up in this post-Cold War time, when so many of its premises are already forgotten. Nevertheless, it is a useful reminder of that specific period.

Usurpation is, ultimately, about "the dread of imagination", Ozick states, "a story written against story-writing." There's a fit challenge from an author such as Ozick, and she does not disappoint.

The other two novellas are also very solid, though less exceptional, but they round off this varied collection nicely.

An excellent introduction to Ozick's work and interests, we certainly recommend this collection.