Susan Orlean Interviews Erica Jong
When Fear of Flying was first published in November of 1973, no one – including author Erica Jong – knew exactly what had been wrought. During her recent conversation with fellow author and New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean, she began by recalling that she only knew she had concocted “something outrageous.”
As is customary with west coast conversation series Live Talks LA, video of the event is now up about a month following, for many more to enjoy. It’s fascinating to take a step back, on this 40th anniversary occasion, to a time when there was no Amazon, female novelists were a rarity and a writing instrument of choice was an IBM Selectric typewriter.
Not to mention listening to Jong read a passage from the book and recall how famous her work made the term “zipless f*ck.” Or, as that term is referred to when Jong appears on NPR, the “zipless bleep.”
