Erica Jong's new book has echoes of her most famous novel, 1973's Fear of Flying — which invited women to be as avid for sex and as delighted with it as men are.
The new book is called Fear of Dying (small spoiler alert: Everyone does not end up dead at the end), and Jong tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer that the book was originally called Happily Married Woman, and it was about a happily married woman whose husband is much older, and not well — so the subtitle was Fear of Dying. "When I turned it in to my publisher, they said, 'That is the title of the book.' It was not my working title. However, it does make a nice trilogy: Fear of Flying, Fear of Fifty, Fear of Dying."
Interview Highlights
On heroine Vanessa Wonderman, a glamorous 60-ish actress, and her billionaire husband
He's 20 years older, or more. And Vanessa, who's always been a beauty, who men have loved, suddenly finds herself living in a life without sex. She wants to embrace life — her parents are dying, her husband may be dying, she wants to embrace life. So she goes to a website called Zipless, and she looks up people she can meet for sex. And the fantasy is she will find sex without strings attached. In fact, she finds a selection of lunatics.
On writing about sex among the old
Actually, I thought it was essential to do it, because sex follows us throughout our lives. The need for touch, the need for connection, that never goes away. But the forms of it change. As people age, touch is more important, erections are less important. And I think somebody needs to write about that.
On the shared experience of baby boomers
We were the generation that was never going to get old, right? We were entitled to sex, success, you know, everything. And our parents adored us and made us feel that we were entitled to everything. And now, seeing their decrepitude, and our own creeping changes — if not yet decrepitude — makes us think, God, we were promised something better than this! And it makes for a lot of humor, I think.
On death and writing the end of the book
I was so worried about it. And I thought of so many different endings. As indeed with Fear of Flying, the end was the hardest to write. And yet I always knew that Fear of Dying would end in India, because India is a place of transformation, a place where Vanessa comes to peace with the cycles of life.
When my husband read the book, he said, "It's a love story with a happy ending." So it is dark and it is light, it is satirical and it is sad — like all my books, I think. Like all my poems.
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Transcript
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
Erica Jong has written a new book. The title is an echo of her most famous novel, published in 1973, called "Fear Of Flying," a book which invited women to be as avid for sex and as delighted with it as we women have always believed that men are. We're going to talk to her about her new book. This one is called "Fear Of Dying," which, of course, will include the subject of sex but also death.
Erica Jong, welcome to our program.
ERICA JONG: Thank you, Linda.
WERTHEIMER: So are we to believe that you intend to introduce us to joyful death as you did to joyful sex?
JONG: Hardly. You know, the working title of the book was called - was "Happily Married Woman." And my heroine is a happily married woman, although her husband is much older and not well. And the subtitle of the book, as I got along in the writing, was "Fear Of Dying." When I turned it into my wonderful publisher, they said, that is the title of the book. It was not my working title. However, it does make a nice trilogy - "Fear Of Flying," "Fear Of Fifty," "Fear Of Dying."
WERTHEIMER: Well, now, as you say, your leading lady in the book is a married lady, Vanessa Wonderman. She's a very beautiful - what is she, 60-ish actress...
JONG: Correct.
WERTHEIMER: ...Whose husband is a billionaire. So what do we need to know about her?
JONG: He's 20 years older or more, and Vanessa, who has always been a beauty who men have loved, suddenly finds herself living in a life without sex. And in order to - she wants to embrace life. Her parents are dying. Her husband may be dying. She wants to embrace life. So she goes to a website called Zipless, and she looks up people that she can meet for sex. And the fantasy is she will find sex without strings attached. In fact, she finds a selection of lunatics.
WERTHEIMER: (Laughter) Now, she's at a time of life, as all the baby boomers are or are about to be, when everyone she cares about is old or sick or dying or all of the above.
JONG: Correct.
WERTHEIMER: Now, I wonder if you could read just a few lines from the bottom of page 9.
JONG: Of course.
(Reading) As you grow older, the losses around you are staggering. The people in the obits come closer and closer to your own age. Older friends and relatives die, leaving you stunned. Competitors die, leaving you triumphant. Lovers and teachers die, leaving you lost. It gets harder and harder to deny your own death. In the hospital, you see other children, children of 50, 60, 70, clinging to their parents of 80, 90, 100. Is all this clinging love, or is it just the need to be reassured of your own immunity from the contagion of the dread angel of death? Because we all secretly believe in our own immortality.
WERTHEIMER: I must say that I would read it for the language, even before we get into Vanessa's still-lively search for sex. She clearly relates flying and dying. Or maybe she thinks flying holds off dying?
JONG: I think flying is a metaphor for creativity, for freedom, for death. You know, in "Fear Of Flying," I always said the title was about the search for freedom in our 20s. The 20s are a very rocky time. But as Vanessa discovers, the 60s are a very rocky time, too.
WERTHEIMER: Did you have any concerns about writing about sex among the not yet dead?
JONG: Actually, I thought it was essential to do it because sex follows us throughout our lives. The need for touch, the need for connection, that never goes away, but the forms of it change. As people age, touch is more important. Erections are less important. And I think somebody needs to write about that.
WERTHEIMER: I wonder if the sort of - the shared experience of baby boomers, the large population cohort that you reached out to with "Fear Of Flying," and you're reaching for again, is that - does that make it a different kind of an experience, do you suppose?
JONG: I think so. I mean, we were the generation that was never going to get old, right? We were entitled to sex, success, you know, everything. And our parents adored us and made us feel that we were entitled to everything. And now, seeing their decrepitude and our own creeping changes. If not yet, decrepitude, makes us think, God, we were promised something better than this. And it makes for a lot of humor, I think.
WERTHEIMER: Here's a small spoiler - this novel does not end with everybody got dead, just so you know.
JONG: No, it's not like a Shakespearean tragedy.
(LAUGHTER)
JONG: It does have a much happier ending. When my husband read the book, he said, it's a love story with a happy ending. So it is dark and it is light. It is satirical and it is sad, like all my books, I think, like all my poems.
WERTHEIMER: Erica Jong's new book is called "Fear Of Dying." Thank you so much for talking about it with us.
JONG: Thank you, Linda. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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