Molly Jong-Fast Grew Up With A Mother Addicted To Fame : Fresh Air

Molly Jong-Fast Grew Up With A Mother Addicted To Fame : Fresh Air

MSNBC political analyst Molly Jong-Fast's mother Erica Jong became famous from her 1973 novel Fear of Flying, which was considered a groundbreaking work of feminist literature. But Molly's mom became addicted to the fame and couldn't bear to lose it. She talks about her childhood and a year of great loss in her new memoir, How to Lose Your Mother.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Molly Jong-Fast and Jay McInerney on the Price of Literary Immortality

Photo courtesy of Molly Jong-Fast. “Fame, like alcoholism, rings a bell in you that can never be unrung,” Molly Jong-Fast writes early on in How To Lose Your Mother, her sharp and sobering new memoir out this week. The line sets her up to unpack the complicated legacy of her mother, Erica Jong, whose 1973 blockbuster novel Fear of Flying made her a feminist literary icon—and, as it turns out, a huge nightmare for those in her personal and profes…