Your Columbians
Erica Jong

"What I have fought for in my life and in my books—irony, the double vision that sees good and evil as flip sides of the same human coin, the integration of body and brain, sensuality and spirituality, honeyed voluptuousness and philosophical rigor—these are the things most endangered today." (Fear of Fifty).

Erica Jong (1942–)
Writer
Barnard 1963, GSAS 1965

Erica Jong—novelist, poet, and essayist—has consistently used her craft to help provide women with a powerful and rational voice in forging a feminist consciousness. She has published 19 books, including eight novels, six volumes of poetry, and numerous articles in mainline magazines and newspapers such as the New York Times and the Sunday Times of London. In her first novel, Fear of Flying, she introduced the world to Isadora Wing, who also plays a central part in three subsequent novels—How to Save Your Own Life, Parachutes and Kisses, and Any Woman's Blues. In her three historical novels—Fanny, Shylock's Daughter, and Sappho's Leap—she demonstrates her mastery of eighteenth-century British literature, the verses of Shakespeare, and ancient Greek lyric, respectively. She has received the Bess Hokin Prize for Poetry, the United Nations Award for Excellence in Literature, and most recently the Victoria Woodhull Award for Ethical Leadership. Erica Jong also established the Erica Jong Writing Fellows Fund to support a program at Barnard that teaches talented student writers to help other students improve their writing.

Submitted by Robert Ball, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 1971, who is solely responsible for the content.

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