Fear of Flying (novel)

"Fear of Flying" redirects here."for|the phobia related to air travel|fear of flyingfor|other uses|Fear of flying (disambiguation)

Infobox Book |
name = Fear of Flying
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Erica Jong
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Novel
publisher = Holt, Rinehart and Winston
release_date = 1973 (1st edition)
media_type = Print (Hardback)
pages = 340 pp (hardback edition)
isbn = ISBN 0-03-010731-8 (hardback edition)
preceded_by =
followed_by = How to Save Your Own Life

"Fear of Flying" is a 1973 novel by Erica Jong, which became famously controversial for its attitudes towards female sexuality, and figured in the development of feminism.

The novel is narrated by its protagonist, Isadora Zelda White Stollerman Wing, a twenty-nine-year-old poet who has published two books of poetry. On a trip to Vienna with her second husband, Isadora decides to indulge her sexual fantasies with another man. In this context, a 'zipless fuck' refers to a sexual encounter with an anonymous stranger; you'll never meet again, and nobody who knows you will ever know it happened.

The book resonated with women who felt stuck in unfulfilled marriages, [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/wwf_fear_of_flying.shtml BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour: Fear of Flying] ] and it has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. Jong has denied that the novel is autobiographical but admits that it has autobiographical elements. [http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/fear_of_flying.html Penguin Group (USA) reading guides: Fear of Flying] ]

Despite Jong's claims to the contrary, Isadora Wing's basis in fact may be stronger than a sum of autobiographical elements. In 2008 Jong appeared at a conference to celebrate "Fear of Flying" as a feminist classic. An article recounting the conference in The New Yorker, described how Jong’s sister,” Suzanna Daou, née Mann, identified herself as the reluctant model for Isadora Wing, calling the book “an exposé of my life when I was living in Lebanon”. Daou angrily denounced the book's clearly identification of the factual counterparts for its characters, then took cruel liberties with them (especially Daou's husband; Isadora's sister Randy's husband, Pierre, makes a pass at both Wing and her two other sisters). Jong did not credit her sister's account of the book, saying instead that “every intelligent family has an insane member". [http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2008/04/14/080414ta_talk_mead New Yorker: Still Flying by Rebecca Mead] ]

Zipless fuck

In the novel, Jong coined the term "zipless fuck," which soon entered the popular lexicon. A "zipless fuck" is defined as a sexual encounter for its own sake, without emotional involvement or commitment or any ulterior motive, between two previously unacquainted persons.

Jong goes on to explain that it is "zipless" because "when you came together, zippers fell away like rose petals, underwear blew off in one breath like dandelion fluff. For the true ultimate zipless A-1 fuck, it was necessary that you never got to know the man very well."

The term has seen a resurgence in popularity as third-wave feminism authors and theorists continue to use it while reinterpreting their approach to sexuality.

References

External links

* [http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/07/20/reviews/jong-flying.html New York Times review of Fear of Flying] by Terry Stokes, November 11, 1973
* [http://archive.salon.com/sex/feature/2003/06/14/jong/index_np.html Origins of the term "zipless fuck"] , from a 'Salon.com' interview