Erica Jong

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Bio

Fear of Flying, Erica Jong's landmark novel published in 1973, is known as the book that gave women permission to have desire and lust. It first appeared in print during the height of the women's liberation struggle in America and Western Europe and has continued to be read by and influence women in countries where they are still mired in ancient traditions and taboos, forbidding them equality of position and expression. It has since sold close to 20 million copies around the world In her afterword in the 30th anniversary edition, Ms. Jong writes that “the girl who wrote this book is (now) young enough to be my daughter.”

Whether or not she would write the same book today, Ms. Jong is still unequivocal on the subject of women's rights. She speaks of President George W. Bush's right wing Fundamentalism as once again cutting women out of the picture, especially by reducing women's health funds in Third World countries. She fears that “one of these days young women in the United States are going to wake up from watching so-called 'reality TV' and discover that they have lost the right to both abortion and contraception.”

Ms. Jong's first book was Fruits and Vegetables, a volume of poetry published in 1971, also popular with women readers. Since then she has published twenty-two books which include the novels, Fanny, Being the True History of the Adventures of Fanny Hackabout-Jones; Shylock's Daughter; Inventing Memory and six volumes of poetry. Her non-fiction works include Fear of Fifty: A Midlife Memoir; The Devil at Large, a study of Henry Miller; Witches; and What do Women Want.

She describes her family as Jewish Bohemian atheists. Her father, a drummer, and her mother, a painter, were wholly secular Jews who, like many secular Jews, became more passionately Jewish as they grew older.

What is it that makes one Jewish? Ms. Jong believes it is reverence for memory, reverence for words, a belief in deeds. She also believes that there are so many Jewish writers because Judaism's “essence is to worship a scroll with words. The scroll is the holy thing.”

Ms. Jong's newest book, Sappho's Leap, is, indeed, a leap into ancient history, to 600 B.C. Greece. Having recently re-read and studied the Greek poet's works, she discovered her own identity in Sappho. “She invented the vocabulary of Eros…of love and passion and everyone who came after her imitated her.” Jong saw in Sappho “a modern woman,” a lover and a mother, just like us. Sappho's Leap, she says, is “dedicated to love and adventure and women power.”

In spite of her popularity, Ms. Jong still suffers from the sting of harsh criticism of her work. She feels she is not alone in this, that much bitterness still exists toward women writers. She thinks it incredible as women “have excelled at this craft for millenia.”

Appearances on CUNY TV

Jewish Women in America

One to One

Women to Women