Seducing the Demon: Writing for My Life

Seducing the Demon: Writing for My Life

Seducing the Demon: Writing for My Life

Seducing the Demon: Writing for My Life

Paperback

$24.00 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Qualifies for Free Shipping
    Choose Expedited Shipping at checkout for delivery by Thursday, April 4
  • PICK UP IN STORE
    Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Related collections and offers


Overview

Erica Jong's memoir-a national bestseller-was probably the most wildly reviewed book of 2006. Critics called it everything from "brutally funny," "risqué and wonderfully unrepentant," and "rowdy, self-deprecating, and endearing" to "a car wreck."* Throughout her book tour, Jong was unflappably funny, and responded to her critics with a hilarious essay on NPR's All Things Considered, which is included in this paperback edition. In addition to prominent review and feature coverage, Jong was a guest on Today and Real Time with Bill Maher. Even Rush Limbaugh flirted with Jong on his radio program: "I think she wants me. I think she's fantasizing about me." Love her, hate her, Jong still knows how to seduce the country and, most important, keep the pages turning.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781585425143
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date: 03/15/2007
Pages: 304
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range: 18 - 13 Years

About the Author

About The Author
Erica Jong is the author of nineteen books of poetry, fiction, and memoir, including Fear of Flying, which has more than 18 million copies in print worldwide. Her most recent essays have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, and she is a frequent guest on television talk shows. Currently working on a novel featuring Isadora Wing—the heroine of Fear of Flying—as a woman of a certain age, Erica and her lawyer husband live in New York City and Connecticut. Her daughter, Molly Jong-Fast, is also an author.

Erica Jong left a Ph.D. program at Columbia to write her ground-breaking novel Fear of Flying, published in 1973. Jong is the author of numerous award-winning books of poetry and novels including Fanny, How to Save Your Own Life, Parachutes and Kisses, Any Woman’s Blues, and the forthcoming Sappho’s Leap. She is also the author of the memoir Fear of Fifty. She lives in New York City and Connecticut.

Interviews

An Interview with Erica Jong

Barnes & Noble.com: Seducing the Demon is subtitled "Writing for My Life." What demon are you referring to?

Erica Jong: I was thinking of a story by I. B. Singer called "Taibele and Her Demon." In it, a beautiful and virtuous young woman sleeps with a man who claims to be a demon.

The demon is creativity. She sleeps with risk-taking. You can't be an artist or author without risk-taking, and sometimes the risks are sexual.

B&N.com: How did the Seducing the Demon project originate?

EJ: I was working on a book of advice for young writers. I started to tell the stories of my life -- the ones I was too scared to reveal -- and I got hooked. My credo is: Don't cut funny. And they were funny, so I published them.

B&N.com: Is writing therapeutic for you?

EJ: Not really. It makes me happy but has always led to other problems. Telling the truth always has consequences.

B&N.com: What's the one bit of advice you wish you'd gotten when you were starting out?

EJ: Humor is as serious as pomposity. Ignore self-appointed literary "experts."

B&N.com: There's an ongoing debate about how the worlds of fiction and memoir sometimes intersect. Should anyone who reads a contemporary memoir expect everything in it to be absolutely true?

EJ: Of course we all see the truth through our emotional lens. That should go without saying. But when I call the book a memoir, the incidents really happened. My opinions about them are my own.

B&N.com: How has becoming a grandmother affected your writing?

EJ: I see the world as continuing beyond my own death, thank God.

B&N.com: Would you ever consider writing a children's book?

EJ: Yes. I hope to write one for Max, my grandson.

B&N.com: In Seducing the Demon, you accuse the Bush administration of misusing words as it tries to further its agenda. What's the worst example of that you've witnessed?

EJ: Their calling coffins "transfer cases" to avoid the term "body bags."

B&N.com: Were you surprised that your daughter, Molly Jong-Fast, has followed in your illustrious footsteps and become a writer herself?

EJ: I was surprised but not surprised. Actually, I'm flattered.

B&N.com: Is it true you're working on a sequel to Fear of Flying?

EJ: Yes. The fourth Isadora book. Isadora is in her mid-50s. Wish me luck!

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews