“Anybody who instantly goes from being a poet and a graduate student to being a public figure has to be in a state of shock. First people want to praise you, and then they want to attack you. No one can prepare you for it.”

American novelist, satirist, and poet

Erica Jong is an American novelist, satirist, and poet, known especially for her 1973 novel Fear of Flying. That book drew wide attention for its frank treatment of female sexuality and became part of the cultural moment of second-wave feminism. It sold more than 37 million copies worldwide, and remains the work most closely associated with her name.