The year of Fear of Flying's publication, 1973, can now be seen as the high point of the modern feminist movement's first phase — a phase marked by consciousness raising, rebellion, and anger. Erica Jong gave voice to feelings and attitudes that women had previously been reluctant to express even in the privacy of their own minds. Among the "forbidden" topics were erotic fantasies, masturbation, menstruation, and the cultural demand that women shape, shave, scent and otherwise despise their natural bodies.

Many reviewers at the time referred to the book's attitude toward men by the simple phrase "man-hating." However, it was far too complex for that simple term. The novel contains elements of ridicule, contempt, anger, pity, and anguish that can perhaps best be summed up as irreverence: Once old assumptions are discarded it does often appear that the emperor has no clothes.

The book thus shared...