Jong, Erica

(US, 1942– )

Erica Jong was born and educated in New York, and became both notorious and celebrated for her first novel, Fear of Flying (1973). In it the heroine, Isadora Wing, seeks sexual and personal fulfilment, moving seamlessly from relationship to relationship. The novel was ground-breaking in its openness and assumption that women want sexual happiness too. Jong wrote a number of sequels—How to Save Your Own Life (1977), Parachutes and Kisses (1984), and Any Woman's Blues (1990). The last is a darker novel, partly set in Venice, and deals in breakdown and recovery. Jong has also written historical pastiche, many poems, and an autobiography, Fear of Fifty (1994). Her writing is feminist-inspired, and her main subject is her own life.

Lisa Alther, Marilyn French. See SEXUAL POLITICS, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA  SA