| One noticeable phenomenon in the western literary history of the 20th century was the emergence of women writers as major voices and the rise of women's literature. Fear of Flying is an exotic flower in the garden of women's literature. It was published in the 1970s. As we all known, the 1970s was an important decade that saw a revival of feminism through the Women's Liberation Movement. The women's lib was also the women writers' movement through which they were able to make permanent their claims and use the power of the printed language to assert the self. Feminists of the 1970s found art and politics to be inextricably connected and it was a radical feminists that became the most powerful voice of the movement, opposing the phallocentric culture and male authority. Writing was used as a weapon to break the silence, to reveal the truth of women's lives. Despite the fact that women today are better educated and liberated and have a greater access than ever before to the literary world, women's contribution to our literary heritage is still invisible. Because modern society continues to be a patriarchal world in which women struggle for an equal share in freedom and status. The advent of feminist publishing in the mid 1970s has done more to promote the awareness of and interest in women's literature during the'70s than the whole of the male dominated industry has in fifty or so years. As a result, more feminist literature has appeared in the literary markets, challenging traditional modes of writing. Many of these "women's books" mirror social changes in society at the time, particularly reflective of women's changing status in the nuclear family and in the workplace. By examining the excellent works of American women's literature from women's perspectives, we see a more complete picture of where women have been and where women are going.The purpose of this thesis is to explore Erica Jong's feminist spirit and thinking in the novel Fear of Flying. Few women novelists have had greater social impact than Erica Jong. From her blockbuster first novel Fear of Flying through several worldwide bestsellers, her adventurous explorations of female emotion and empowerment have been credited with unlocking "a new female spirit". The novel explores different aspects of how women's lives are changing, in terms of their sexuality and personal growth. Jong's novel embraces the politics of the women's liberation movement and challenges the definition of female sexuality. Rarely is sex discussed so often and so explicitly in a woman's writing as it is here in this novel. It made a publishing milestone that made her a media focus. Erica Jong plays an important role as an advocator of feminist and modernist literature. Her works has been the subject of critical interest for over thirty years because of her rich feminist spirit and thinking. Reading the novel Fear of Flying, a feminist voice coming from American literature, will help us better understand women issues. I divide the thesis into three chapters. In Chapter One, by examining Erica Jong's early life, I find a close connection between her life and her feminist writing. The connection results in Jong's writing trend— autobiography. Many women writers love to write autobiographies, diaries, journals and letters, which are closely connected with their own experiences. Women tend to autobiographical writing because, without a language of their own, they find in autobiography the best way to express their feelings and thinking and to oppose the patriarchal society. At end of this chapter, I emphasize that the selection of autobiographical writing style does not mean that women writers have a latent inclinations of selecting such a style, but that it is their status in politics, economy and culture that makes them adopt the same choice.In order to reveal the heroine's feminist consciousness, Chapter Two begins with a brief background discussion of the era when she lived. Firstly I discuss what feminist consciousness is and what it contain... |
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