Bookworm
Erica Jong: Fear of Flying
On its 40th-anniversary, Jong clarifies "Fear of Flying's" earnest philosophical motives, and identifies her literary influences, from Shakespeare to Pauline Réage.
By Michael Silverblatt • • 29m ListenIsadora Zelda White Stollerman Wing, the keen heroine of Erica Jong'Fear of Flying (Henry Holt - 40th anniversary edition) is back this year, in triple 40th-anniversary editions of the classic novel. Jong's famous story of sexual self-understanding has touched and incited two generations of readers, but she says many have mistaken the book for simple sex writing when what she meant to examine was Isadora's – and our own – deep ambivalence about sex. On its 40th-anniversary, Jong clarifies Fear of Flying's earnest philosophical motives, and identifies her literary influences, from Shakespeare to D.H. Lawrence to Pauline Réage.
Banner image: Michael Childers
