Most Popular Books by Erica Jong

Seducing the Demon has introduced Erica Jong to readers who hadn''t been born when Fear of Flying was published in 1973. Now one of her finest works of nonfiction -and a New York Times bestseller-is back in print with a new afterword. In Fear of Fifty, a New York Times bestseller when first published in 1994, Erica Jong looks to the second half of her life and "goes right to the jugular of the women who lived wildly and vicariously through Fear of Flying" (Publishers Weekly), delivering highly entertaining stories and provocative insights on sex, marriage, aging, feminism, and motherhood. "What Jong calls a midlife memoir is a slice of autobiography that ranks in honesty, self-perception and wisdom with [works by] Simone de Beauvoir and Mary McCarthy," wrote the Sunday Times (U.K.). "Although Jong''s memoir of a Jewish American princess is wittier than either."

The groundbreaking #1 New York Times Bestseller—updated for the 50th Anniversary with a New Foreword by Molly Jong-Fast and a New Introduction by Taffy Brodesser-Akner! “The boundary-breaking novel that redefined sexuality.”—O Magazine Isadora Wing is tired. Tired of being psychoanalyzed. Tired of grad school. Tired of fighting with her husband. Tired of having unfulfilled desires. She thinks she knows what she''s searching for and how to achieve it. But her quest to engage in no-strings-attached sex quickly shifts into a journey of self-discovery that will leave her questioning her own mind, her ideals, and what she truly wants in life.... Originally published in 1973, the ground-breaking, uninhibited story of Isadora Wing and her desire to fly free caused a national sensation. It fueled fantasies, ignited debates, and introduced a notorious new phrase to the English language. Now, after fifty years, this revolutionary novel still stands as a timeless tale of self-discovery, liberation, and womanhood. “Smart, bold, bracing and, importantly, extremely funny.”—Meg Wolitzer

Erica Jong''s two rules of writing are "never cut funny" and "keep the pages turning." And Jong delivers in these twenty-six essays, coupling frank and risqu? stories about her own life with provocative pieces on her passion for politics, literature, Italy, and-yes-sex. Originally published in 1998, this updated edition features four new essays. What Do Women Want? offers a startlingly original look at where women are-and where they need to be in the twenty-first century: Are women better off today than they were twenty-five years ago? Has burning pre-nup agreements become the new peak of romance? Why do our greatest women writers too often get dissed and overlooked? Why do powerful women scare men? And who is the perfect man? How does the mother-daughter relationship influence cycles of feminism and backlash? Will Hillary become president? What is sexy?

The book begins with a question: Why Henry Miller? "Miller remains among the most misunderstood of writers - seen either as a pornographer or a guru, a sexual enslaver or a sexual liberator, a prophet or a pervert. All the questions his life and oeuvre raise about the role of the writer in society, the impact of books on sexual politics, the impact of sexual politics on books, the threat of censorship to free speech and written expression are, unfortunately, as fresh today as they ever were". Part biography, part memoir, part critical study, part exploration of sexual politics in our time, The Devil at Large is an event: a book that promises to rescue Miller from the facile charges of misogyny, anti-Semitism, and titillation that have been lobbed at him over the years, and brilliantly captures the exuberance, audacity, and energy that defined his life and art. More than that, it is a reunion between a young writer and her mentor. In 1974, while Fear of Flying was still a relatively obscure first novel, Erica Jong received an enthusiastic fan letter from Henry Miller, then an old man of eighty-three. Miller credited himself with "discovering" Jong, and his faithful correspondence guided her through a year of enormous change. The two writers - chastised and celebrated for their lusty prose, accused of conflating autobiography with fiction in their respective generations - found they were kindred spirits, and began a friendship that would last until Miller''s death in 1980. "Make it all up!" was Miller''s appeal to Jong to become his biographer. But in reexamining Miller, Jong has not had to fictionalize. She has imparted a deeper understanding of a life whose dramatic particulars have longsince been mythologized, dramatized, and cannibalized by those in search of a lusty life story. Jong puts the works, the letters, the loves through a prism that clarifies the creative impulse, making this slim book a quintessential chronicle of a writer''s life and a mirror of our own times. "Always the flesh and the vision together", Anais Nin said of Miller. The Devil at Large asks its readers to look anew at these elements and come to a new appreciation of a twentieth-century visionary and prophet.

First published in 1997, Inventing Memory is about four generations of remarkable women from a Jewish-American family-their triumphs, tragedies, scandals, and love affairs-as related by Sara Solomon, the youngest of these women. While trying to chronicle their history, the story becomes essentially hers, as she comes to understand the nature of memory, the way all of us both invent and assimilate our ancestors. In learning about the women in her family, Sara discovers how to create her own future.

The iconic, bestselling author delivers her first book in ten years-and the sequel to the groundbreaking novel, Fear of Flying

A tale of addiction and narcissism—the twin obsessions of our age. World-famous folk singer Leila Sand emerged from the sixties and seventies with addictions to drugs and booze. Leila''s latest addiction is to a younger man who leaves her sexually ecstatic but emotionally bereft. The orgasmic frenzies trump the betrayals, so she keeps coming back for more. Eventually, Leila frees herself by learning the rules of love, the Twelve Steps, and the Key to Serenity in an odyssey that takes her from AA meetings to dens of sin, parties with "names" worth dropping, and unforgettable gondola rides. Jong has given us a poignant exploration of life, art, and the complexities of womanhood.

In Conversations with Erica Jong one of the most popular and controversial of contemporary writers has her say. She was already an established poet when she published Fear of Flying (1973), but the novel''s sensational reception came to overshadow all her work. In interviews from 1973 to 2001, Jong relates the extra-ordinary experience she gained as a pioneer of sexual writing from a female point of view. With equal attention to the art of fiction and poetry, she yields her views on the literary scene and on the place of poetry in American society. Among the highlights of the book is Jong''s account of the publication of Fear of Flying and its remarkable, best-seller rise. Cast into the role of spokesperson for feminism in the seventies, she has continued to represent her generation of women. In several conversations, she talks about the tensions within feminism over the decades. Jong''s fame has been deeply branded by the notoriety associated with sex. She speaks for all women writers who have addressed sexual topics and who have suffered retaliation. She tells the story of the struggle to keep writing honestly when the public''s perception of one''s work has made one a target. She describes the difficulty of escaping categories created by the media and the critical community and the frustration of living in the shadow of one notorious best-seller. In Jong''s writing, humor is a constant, and one of the pleasures of reading these conversations is her abundant wit. Conversations with Erica Jong reveals the writer to be funny, articulate, and passionately committed to her art. Charlotte Templin is the author of Feminism and the Politics of Literary Reputation: The Example of Erica Jong. Her work has appeared in American Studies, The Missouri Review, and Centennial Review.

The New York Times–bestselling author of Fear of Flying celebrates witches in a gorgeously illustrated brew of witchcraft lore, potions, secrets, and myth. With a mix of genuine fascination, passionate enthusiasm, and keen feminist insight, Erica Jong wades through a bog of myths, misinformation, historical hysteria, and contemporary Halloween costumes to offer a generous exploration and celebration of witches. From their origins as descendants of ancient goddesses to contemporary practitioners of the craft, the evolution of the concept of "witch" has been as changeable as the centuries themselves. From evil crone to sexual seductress, they are the embodiment of both light and dark, fertility and death, divinity and paganism, baleful curses and healing cures. They have been scapegoated as the object of men''s worst fears and embraced as heroines of female empowerment. As muses, they have influenced popular culture from Shakespeare and Yeats to Anne Sexton and Ken Russell. With reverence and a hint of mischief, Jong reveals witches'' rites, rituals, and magical recipes, including authentic spells and incantations. "A steaming cauldron of beautifully illustrated prose, poetry, love potions and flying lotions" ( Glamour) from the renowned author of Fanny, Witches is "nothing less than a complete transformation of our concept of witches . . . accomplishe[d] with panache in this sumptuously and provocatively illustrated book" ( Publishers Weekly). This ebook features an illustrated biography of Erica Jong, including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author''s personal collection.

Erica Jong''s memoir-a national bestseller-was probably the most wildly reviewed book of 2006. Critics called it everything from "brutally funny," "risqu? and wonderfully unrepentant," and "rowdy, self-deprecating, and endearing" to "a car wreck."* Throughout her book tour, Jong was unflappably funny, and responded to her critics with a hilarious essay on NPR''s All Things Considered, which is included in this paperback edition. In addition to prominent review and feature coverage, Jong was a guest on Today and Real Time with Bill Maher. Even Rush Limbaugh flirted with Jong on his radio program: "I think she wants me. I think she''s fantasizing about me." Love her, hate her, Jong still knows how to seduce the country and, most important, keep the pages turning.

Love Comes First is Erica Jong’s long-awaited return to her poetic roots! Here is Erica Jong’s first book of all-new poems in more than a decade. Known and beloved for Fear of Flying and her many other books of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, Jong expounds on the most eternal, universal topic of all: love. Using brilliant imagery and intense metaphorical insights to paint vivid pictures of love, and all that comes with it—the heights of elation, the depths of sorrow—she covers every inch of the spectrum with her vibrant and insightful words. Perfect for wedding showers, lovers of all ages, and Valentine’s Day, Jong’s trademark trailblazing style and remarkable ability to bridge the gap between literary and popular poetry makes Love Comes First an instant classic. Discover— or discover yet again—the brilliance of Erica Jong. Watch the trailer for this book:

In this "amazing tour de force," an actress travels back in time and has an affair with William Shakespeare, from a #1 New York Times bestseller ( Cosmopolitan). An aging Hollywood film star, Jessica Pruitt fears the best days of her career are behind her. Arriving in Italy, she hopes to escape her worries by serving as a judge at the Venice Film Festival and immersing herself in preparations for her starring role in a new cinematic take on The Merchant of Venice. The ancient, crumbling city of canals is the perfect escape, enchanting Jessica with its history, its magic, and its mystery. Then one day she finds herself in a very different Venice—one that hasn''t existed for five hundred years—as the heroine of a new theatrical endeavor by an enigmatic young playwright named Will Shakespeare. Suddenly, impossibly, Jessica has found a new beginning, a new audience—and, in the arms of a genius fledgling bard, a love affair more stimulating, satisfying, and liberating than any she will ever know, even five centuries on. Originally published as Serenissima, this "hypnotic" novel by the bestselling author of Fear of Flying is delightfully uninhibited love story that transcends time ( The Washington Post Book World). "Erica Jong can write a historical novel that both honors its tradition with affectionate parody and creates its own full fictional reality." — The New York Times Book Review "A sexy adventure story which is a real page turner." —Ken Follett, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Pillars of the Earth This ebook features an illustrated biography of Erica Jong including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author''s personal collection.

Married (again) and divorced (again), Isadora Wing is a single parent with an adorable daughter, an irritating ex-husband, and a startling assortment of suitors, including Berkeley Sproul III, who is 14 years her junior. Of course their affair is tortuous and sexy, but is it love?

Erica Jong--like Isadora Wing, her fictional doppelganger--was rich and famous, brainy and beautiful, and soaring high with erotica and marijuana in 1977, the year this book was first published. Erica/Isadora are the perfect literary and libidinous guides for those readers who want to learn about-or just be reminded of-the sheer hedonistic innocence of the time. "How to Save Your Own Life" was praised by "People" for being "shameless, sex-saturated and a joy," and hailed by Anthony Burgess as one of the ninety-nine best novels published in English since 1939.