Erica Jong
Erica Jong
Erica Jongis an American novelist 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 Washington Post, it has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth26 March 1942
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
There is still the feeling that women's writing is a lesser class of writing, that what goes on in the nursery or the bedroom is not as important as what goes on in the battlefield, that what women know about is a less category of knowledge.
It's hard to do fiction and nonfiction simultaneously.
I have a very sensitive nose. I identify with dogs. I understand the world through my nose.
Every country gets the circus it deserves. Spain gets bullfights. Italy the Church. America Hollywood.
My grandchildren are fabulous and funny.
Where is Hollywood located? Chiefly between the ears. In that part of the American brain lately vacated by God.
At certain historic moments, grandparents took on childrearing responsibilities. In many cultures, they still do. Chinese grandparents who are able to retire at 55 are seen all over Beijing bouncing grandbabies. In the United States, we can't afford to retire at 55.
The problem with feminism in the second wave was that we fought so much among ourselves, and I think we did so much damage to the movement... and I think the next wave, the third wave, is women mentoring younger women and women helping younger women to enter the political process and the writing world.
All my forebears worked for a living. My grandfather painted portraits. My mother too. My aunt painted seascapes.
Famous people complain about fame, but they never want to give it back, myself included.
Feminism is teaching. I've gotten a lot of pleasure pushing younger writers that I've met and worked with.
Friends love misery, in fact. Sometimes, especially if we are too lucky or too successful or too pretty, our misery is the only thing that endears us to our friends.
I think that the joy of writing a novel is the self-exploratio n that emerges and also that wonderful feeling of playing God with the characters. When I sit down at my writing desk, time seems to vanish. ... I think the most important thing for a writer is to be locked in a study.
Beware of the man who denounces psychiatrists; / he is afraid.