Erica Jong

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Erica Jong
Erica Jong - 1977.jpg
Jong in 1977
Born Erica Mann
(1942-03-26) March 26, 1942 (age 82)
New York City, U.S.
Occupation
  • Author
  • teacher
Alma mater Barnard College (BA)
Columbia University (MA)
Period 1973–present
Genre Primarily fiction and poetry
Notable works Fear of Flying, Shylock's Daughter, Seducing the Demon
Spouse Michael Werthman (m. 1963; div. 1965)
Allan Jong (m. 1966; div. 1975)
Jonathan Fast (m. 1977; div. 1982)
Kenneth David Burrows (m. 1989)
Children Molly Jong-Fast
Relatives Howard Fast (father-in-law)
Website
www.ericajong.com

Erica Jong (née Mann; born March 26, 1942) is an American novelist, satirist, and poet, known particularly for her 1973 novel Fear of Flying. The book became famously controversial for its attitudes towards female sexuality and figured prominently in the development of second-wave feminism. According to The Washington Post, it has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.[1]

Early life and education

Jennifer Weiner and Erica Jong at the Miami Book Fair International 2013

Jong was born on March 26, 1942 in New York.[citation needed] She is the middle daughter of Seymour Mann (né Nathan Weisman, died 2004), and Eda Mirsky (1911–2012).[citation needed] Her father was a businessman of Polish Jewish ancestry who owned a gifts and home accessories company[2] known for its mass production of porcelain dolls. Her mother was born in England of a Russian Jewish immigrant family, and was a painter and textile designer who also designed dolls for her husband's company.[lower-alpha 1] Jong has an elder sister, Suzanna, who married Lebanese businessman Arthur Daou, and a younger sister, Claudia, a social worker who married Gideon S. Oberweger (the chief executive officer of Seymour Mann Inc. until his death in 2006).[4] Among her nephews is Peter Daou, who is a Democratic Party strategist.[5] Jong attended New York's The High School of Music & Art in the 1950s, where she developed her passion for art and writing. As a student at Barnard College, Jong edited the Barnard Literary Magazine and created poetry programs for the Columbia University campus radio station, WKCR.[6][7]

Career

A 1963 graduate of Barnard College with additionally an MA (1965) in 18th century English Literature from Columbia University, Jong is best known for her first novel, Fear of Flying (1973), which created a sensation with its frank treatment of a woman's sexual desires.[1] Although it contains many sexual elements, the book is mainly the account of Isadora Wing, a woman in her late twenties, trying to find who she is and where she is going. It contains many psychological and humorous descriptive elements, as well as rich cultural and literary references. The book tries to answer the many conflicts arising for women in late 1960s and early 1970s America, of womanhood, femininity, love, one's quest for freedom and purpose.[8] The saga of thwarted fulfillment of Isadora Wing continues in two further novels, How to Save Your Own Life (1977) and Parachutes and Kisses (1984).

Personal life

Jong has been married four times. Her first two marriages, to college sweetheart Michael Werthman, and to Allan Jong, a Chinese American psychiatrist, reflect those of the narrator of Fear of Flying.[citation needed] Her third husband was Jonathan Fast, a novelist and social work educator, and son of novelist Howard Fast. This marriage was described in How to Save Your Own Life and Parachutes and Kisses. She has a daughter from her third marriage, Molly Jong-Fast. Jong is now married to Kenneth David Burrows,[9][10] a New York litigator. In the late 1990s, Jong wrote an article about her current marriage in the magazine Talk.

Jong lived on an army base in Heidelberg, Germany, for three years (1966–69) with her second husband. She was a frequent visitor to Venice, and wrote about that city in her novel Shylock's Daughter.

In 2007, her literary archive was acquired by Columbia University in New York City.

Jong is mentioned in the Bob Dylan song "Highlands" on his album Time Out of Mind (1997), and satirized on the MC Paul Barman track "N.O.W.", in which the rapper fantasizes about a young leftist carrying a fictitious Jong book titled America's Wrong.[11]

Jong supports LGBT rights and legalization of same-sex marriage. She says, "Gay marriage is a blessing not a curse. It certainly promotes stability and family. And it's certainly good for kids."[12]

Bibliography

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Fiction

  • Fear of Flying (1973)
  • How to Save Your Own Life (1977)
  • Fanny, Being the True History of the Adventures of Fanny Hackabout-Jones (1980) (a retelling of Fanny Hill)
  • Megan's Book of Divorce: a kid's book for adults; as told to Erica Jong; illustrated by Freya Tanz. New York: New American Library (1984)
  • Megan's Two Houses: a story of adjustment; illustrated by Freya Tanz (1984; West Hollywood, CA: Dove Kids, 1996)
  • Parachutes & Kisses. New York: New American Library (1984) (UK ed. as Parachutes and Kisses: London: Granada, 1984.)[13]
  • Shylock's Daughter (1987): formerly titled Serenissima
  • Any Woman's Blues (1990)
  • Inventing Memory (1997)
  • Sappho's Leap (2003)
  • Fear of Dying (September 8, 2015)
Erica Jong visiting Barnes & Noble in New York.

Non-fiction

  • Witches; illustrated by Joseph A. Smith. New York: Harry A. Abrams (1981)
  • The Devil at Large: Erica Jong on Henry Miller (1993)
  • Fear of Fifty: A Midlife Memoir (1994)
  • What Do Women Want? bread roses sex power (1998)
  • Seducing the Demon: writing for my life (2006)
  • Essay, "My Dirty Secret". Bad Girls: 26 Writers Misbehave (2007)
  • It Was Eight Years Ago Today (But It Seems Like Eighty)[14] (2008)

Anthology

  • Sugar in My Bowl: Real Women Write About Real Sex Ed. Erica Jong (2011)

Poetry

  • Fruits & Vegetables (1971, 1997)
  • Half-Lives (1973)
  • Loveroot (1975)
  • At the Edge of the Body (1979)
  • Ordinary Miracles (1983)
  • Becoming Light: New and Selected (1991)
  • Love Comes First (2009)
Erica Jong, Miami 2013

Awards

  • Poetry Magazine's Bess Hokin Prize (1971)
  • Sigmund Freud Award For Literature (1975)
  • United Nations Award For Excellence In Literature (1998)
  • Deauville Award For Literary Excellence In France
  • Fernanda Pivano Award For Literary In Italy

Notes

  1. ↑ Jong's daughter Molly Jong-Fast writes in her memoir, Girl [Maladjusted]: "Grandma Eda painted flowers and children. Grandma's flower paintings were filled with lavish colors, sensuous shapes, and the hand of her abused housekeeper, who'd been holding the flowers since early the day before. Grandma's flower paintings were the stuff of midwestern hotel room walls. But Grandma's portraits of her children and grandchildren seemed to express something more than just a love of flowers or housekeepers: Grandma's paintings of her family highlighted her distaste for motherhood".[3]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ www.poemhunter.com/erica-jong/biography
  8. ↑ "Jong, Erica" in Current Biography Yearbook 1997. New York / Dublin: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1997. p. 248
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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