Have just fallen in love with Erica Jong!

Beautifully gifted artist writer with a wry yet good humored, worldview and a penchant for adventure!

El año pasado descubrí a la autora leyendo Miedo a volar e Isadora emprende el vuelo, libros que considero muy importantes leerlos antes de leer sus memorias.

Este libro lo comencé un mes antes de que yo cumpliera 50 años, es un delicioso viaje en la vida de una mujer que rompió muchos paradigmas para una mujer judía en los 70s .

Muy recomendable pero si se necesita leer antes sus primeros dos libros.

With any luck, Jong will do Sashaying Toward Seventy. I found in my journal the word "sprezzatura" which means making the difficult look easy, and I know it's from this book.

Also: "...past fifty, we learn with surprise and a sense of suicidal absolution, that what we intended and failed, could never have happened." by Robert Lowell ~ "For Sheridan".

Cheery, innit?

اريكا يونغ و كتابها الخوف من الخمسين
سيرة ذاتية لامراة توشك على دخول الخمسين
هل انتهت الحياة هنا ؟
تقول يونغ في خاتمة الكتاب أنها وصلت نهاية الستين ولا زال أمامها الكثير من الحب

وقعت في خطأ كبير حين زاوجت القراءة بين سيرة جلال أمين ( المصري المولود ابان الحرب العالمية الثانية الرجل الذي يميل بطبعه للقومية العربية والاصالة والمصرية )
ومع ايريكا ( المتحررة اليهودية التي ولدت ايضا ابان الحرب العالمية الثالثة التي تسعى للحرية والتحرر بكل انواعها وتناصر المراة وتعشق الرجال والتجديد )

ربما هو خطأ المزج بين سيرتين ذاتيين مختلفتين ولكن ربما كذلك من الصواب أن نرى الحياة بصورة معمقة ليتحدث أحدهما عن المسكوت لدى الاخر

إذ أن لكل شخص منا جانب غير مطروق

ايريكا تتحدث عن موروث اليهود ، عن تحطيم الامال بالنسبة للانثى لانها أنثى ، من خوف المراة الحالية من الانجاب لانه يتعارض مع الحياة العملية ويقمعها ، تتحدث عن الامومة ، الرجال ، الكتابة ، العلاقات ، الوالدين ، وابنتها ،

بينما أمين رجل الاقتصاد يتحدث بالارقام
كانت ايريكا تصوغ الحياة بالنجوم والقمر

التقييم ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this, she does get bogged down with appearances in my view, tries too hard to be clever, full blown narcissistic masturbator, which is both the good and bad qualities of her books, but again, very enjoyable. First time I read it I was 40's and now at 65, enjoyed it much more.

One of the BEST BOOKS written by a feminist! I couldnt put this book down. It is easy reading, and very warm and candid. Erica Jong writes beautifully. All GIRLS must read it. It is that good. (Dont go by the title and classify it as something our mothers or women nearing/over fifty should read.)

Exactly what I needed to read in my 49th year.

I love Erica Jong's Fear of Flying. (one of my all time favorites) This book had a lot of info and a lot going on. At times, it was hard to follow the author's train of thought. I ended up skimming. I do really enjoy her thoughts on mid-life, independence, and not looking for a partner or significant other to fulfill you. Good stuff, just a longish book.

I read this as part of a feminist book club and everyone thought it was really dated. The main character frustrated me and I didn't enjoy the story, but the text was useful from a historical perspective. I can't believe it was controversial.

Erica Jong has lived a fast and hard life, much of which she brings on herself. She is passionate, flamboyant and reminds me of Joan Rivers. However, through all her trials, challenges and bizarre situations she writes and sometimes she writes well. She gives an interesting perspective to the life of a writer, some I agree with and some not, but isn't that they way it goes with much of life?

First off, I love Erica Jong and I love Fear of Flying which is the ultimate book to read for young chicas.
This is about Erica as a person, her difficulty navigating the roles of woman and artist, and her confidence/confusion as she approaches 50.
What I love though is that through her recapping her past you get all these little insights and understanding of what it is to be a woman in the complicated world we live in.
It's like sitting at the kitchen table with your mom and your old aunts and listening to them rehash the past complete with the good old days and when times were hard.
Really insightful for people who are writers or artists trying to figure out how to handle their passion for their craft with regular everyday living and relationships and also for women trying to figure out whats up with gender roles and how to come to terms with the generation before them who lived in a whole different world.