Fear of Flying

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Women seem much freer today than they were in 1973. Why do you think Isadora’s dilemmas still have relevance?

Isadora struggles to be her own woman in a man's world. How do you think things have changed for women since the 1960s and how are they the same? Isadora says relationships are always unequal, that the ones who love us most we love the least and vice versa. Do you agree? There are courses you can take to help you overcome your fear of flying and flying anxiety. They are offered by various airlines such as: Erica Jong grew up on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and attended Barnard College, where she majored in writing and literature, and she later received her M.A. in eighteenth-century English literature from Columbia University. She left halfway through the Ph.D. program to write her groundbreaking first novel, Fear of Flying, which went on to sell 20 million copies worldwide. She is also the author of many award-winning books of poetry, novels, and non-fiction including Sappho’s Leap, Fanny, Any Woman’s Blues, and Fear of Fifty. She lives in New York City and Connecticut. Her work has had a major impact on women’s lives all over the world.A picaresque, funny, touching adventure of Isadora Wing…on the run from her psychoanalyst husband, in quest of joy and her own true self.” How was Isadora shaped by her mother and sisters? Do you think her mother's advice to eschew the ordinary has caused her pain or happiness? This book has helped me deal with and manage my fear of flying better than anything else I've tried. I read it little-by-little over a couple years' time (I'm not such a slow reader that it took me two years of daily reading!). During that time, while I was still in the process of reading, I flew three or four times, once on a nonstop, round-trip flight to London. Isadora seems to feel most free when she's experiencing sexual pleasure and when she's writing. What's the connection between these two aspects of her world?

You went on to write two more books about Isadora Wing. What makes a character someone you want to revisit? Originally published in 1973, the ground-breaking, uninhibited story of Isadora Wing and her desire to fly free caused a national sensation —and sold more than twelve million copies. Now, after thirty years, the iconic novel still stands as a timeless tale of self-discovery, liberation, and womanhood. The London trip was so long that I didn't turn down alcohol when offered -- but one at least one of the other, shorter trips, I abstained from alcohol and alprazolam (I know not to use them together), and was entirely comfortable. You may want to close your eyes and visualise something that puts you at ease and eases your fear of flying. Perhaps this is you lying on the beach at your eventual holiday destination, or a peaceful landscape.Fear of flying can come with an added layer of unease following the pandemic. Not only is there the fear of being up in the sky and unable to leave the aircraft, but passengers might have a fear of germs or contracting COVID-19. Initially I was troubled by some people's emphasis on sex in the novel. I never thought it was a book about sex. I thought it was a book about freedom. As time went on I came to see that Isadora's fierce honesty about her sexual feelings had so impacted readers that conservatives felt they had to denounce her—and me. There's less fornication in the book than there is fantasy. Perhaps it's as threatening to have a woman talk and think freely about sex as to actually do it. At any rate, Isadora's openness did change the way both women and men thought, talked, and wrote about sex.

I listened to this on audible, and while it was effective, I may have preferred to read a hard copy. The audible version of this book is riddled with mistakes - there are several sections that were not properly edited where the author clears his throat, restarts a sentence, etc. It's only about 10% of the book, but the fact that it's happening at all is crazy to me. I could probably return it for a credit if I wanted to make a stink about it. The harshest criticism has always been that Isadora is self-absorbed. I think our culture says that women who wonder about their own fulfillment aren’t doing what women should do —which is take care of everyone else. We don’t seem to criticize male protagonists for probing their own psyches. But women are held to a different standard. We are supposed to be caregivers both emotionally and psychically. It’s very hard to break out of that mindset. But how can women become important writers if they are thought to be unfeminine when they look into the female mind? If you know somebody who has flown recently, you could ask about their experience. If you wish to speak to professionals who treat fear of flying, UKCP has a list of practitioners who offer support. Be kind to your behind.’ ‘Blush like you mean it.’ ‘Love your hair.’ ‘Want a better body? We’ll rearrange the one you’ve got.’ ‘That shine on your face should come from him, not from your skin.’ ‘You’ve come a long way, baby.’ ‘How to score with every male in the zodiac.’ ‘The stars and sensual you.’ ‘To a man they say Cutty Sark.’ ‘A diamond is forever.’ ‘If you’re concerned about douching . . .’ ‘Length and coolness come together.’ ‘How I solved my intimate odor problem.’ ‘Lady be cool.’ ‘Every woman alive loves Chanel No. 5.’ ‘What makes a shy girl get intimate?’ ‘ F emme , we named it after you.’Do you worry that you might lose control when flying and spontaneously open the airplane door or draw attention to yourself? Finally, through an emotionally taxing and melodramatic letter that she never delivers to Bennett because he once again walks in and interrupts her, Isadora decides to leave with Adrian. The two of them drive through France, Germany, and Italy camping every night, drinking, and making love. Along the way, Isadora confides in Adrian the stories of her past relationships and first marriage. She reveals that she met her first husband, Brian, in college, where they connected over their mutual love of literature and ability to walk for hours while quoting poetry. That ended when they married and became a "bourgeois" couple not seeing each other, not having sex, disconnecting. Brian, a certified genius, began to fall into delusions, believing himself to be the second coming of Christ. He became violent, raped Isadora, and choked her close to death in one mental break. He was repeatedly hospitalized and eventually moved to a facility in Los Angeles in which Brian blamed her for everything, and they finally divorced. You dream about breaking your leg on the ski slope. You have, in fact, just broken your leg on the ski slope and you are lying on the couch wearing a ten-pound plaster cast which has had you housebound for weeks, but has also given you a beautiful new appreciation of your toes and the civil rights of paraplegics. But the broken leg in the dream represents your own “mutilated genital.” You always wanted to have a penis and now you feel guilty that you have deliberately broken your leg so that you can have the pleasure of the cast, no? Even more to the point: the woman (unhappy though she knows her married friends to be) can never let herself alone. She lives as if she were constantly on the brink of some great fulfillment. As if she were waiting for Prince Charming to take her away “from all this.” All what? The solitude of living inside her own soul? The certainty of being herself instead of half of something else? The novel's tone may be considered conversational or informal. The story's American narrator is struggling to find her place in the world of academia, feminist scholarship, and in the literary world as a whole. The narrator is a female author of erotic poetry, which she publishes without fully realizing how much attention she will attract from both critics and writers of alarming fan letters.

When I was trying to overcome my own flying phobia, I read all the fear of flying books I could find. Not only did reading these books give me many necessary tools to beat my flying anxiety, but they gave me the confidence and hope that it WAS possible to conquer my fear of flying. Soar: The Breakthrough Treatment for Fear of Flying is a great read for anyone who wants to face their fear of flying at a psychological level. If you feel little reassurance from the statistical improbabilities of air disasters and want to learn how to practically resolve your anxieties, this is the book for you. Additionally, the real info I was looking for didn't start until around chapter 8 or 9. Somewhere in the middle is are a few (to me) irrelevant sections. One about how to manage fear of an elevator, and one about childhood trauma and how that can lead to fears/phobias. Those things may be interesting to some, but it wasn't what I was expecting - I was here for a plan of action for when I take my next flight.

Is this a book only a young writer could write? Is there anything in the book that embarrasses you now? If you can answer YES to most of the questions it is likely that you are affected by a fear of flying.