March 28, 2-8pm, Social Hall at Union Theological Seminary, 3041 Broadway at 121st St.
Program Schedule
Friday March 28th 2008
2pm
Welcoming Remarks:
Marianne Hirsch, Institute for Reasearch on Women and Gender Michael Ryan, Columbia University Libraries
2:15-3:30pm
Fear of Flyingat 35
Moderated by Natalie Kampen, Barnard Center for Research on Women
Susan Rubin Suleiman, writer and critic, Harvard University Shelley Fisher Fishkin, writer and critic, Stanford University Aoibheean Sweeney, novelist, CUNY Graduate Center
3:45–5pm
Can a Feminist Classic be an American Classic?
Moderated by Margo Jefferson, journalist, Columbia University School of the Arts
Min Jin Lee, novelist Nancy K. Miller, writer and critic, CUNY Graduate Center Rebecca Traister, journalist, salon.com
5:30-6:30pm
Erica Jong in conversation with Jenny Davidson, Columbia University
Reception
Thirty-five years ago, Erica Jong’s first novel, the international bestseller Fear of Flying, electrified readers around the world and sparked fierce debate. Breaking from conventional expectations of fiction by and about women, Fear of Flying freed other women writers to write intelligently and openly about sex and to debate intimate issues of importance to women. Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library acquired a large collection of Erica Jong’s archival material in 2007. Jong’s papers have become an important asset as the Columbia Libraries continue to document the history of women and feminism in contemporary American society. In an outgrowth of this interest and intent, the Rare Book & Manuscript Library will join the Columbia University Institute for Research on Women and Gender and the Center for Research on Women at Barnard College in gathering a group of distinguished writers and critics for a half-day conference, “Fear of Flying: Can a Feminist Classic be a Classic?” on Friday, March 28, 2008. Speakers will revisit Jong’s novel and will assess the status of women’s writing and of feminism in today’s literary scene and the possibilities of subversion open to contemporary young women writers.
The panel will include novelists Min Jin Lee, author of the national bestseller Free Food for Millionaires; Aoibheann Sweeney, author of Among Other Things I’ve Taken Up Smoking; literary and cultural critics Nancy K. Miller, Distinguished Professor, Comparative Literature and English, at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and author of But Enough About Me: Let Me Tell You About My Memoir; Susan Rubin Suleiman, C. Douglas Dillon Professor of the Civilization of France and a professor of comparative literature at Harvard, and author of Subversive Intent: Gender, Politics and the Avant-Garde; Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Director of American Studies, Stanford University, and author of From Fact to Fiction: Journalism and Imaginative Writing in America; and journalist Rebecca Traister, staff writer for Salon.com and a founding contributor to Broadsheet. The afternoon will culminate in a conversation between Erica Jong and Columbia professor and novelist Jenny Davidson, author of Breeding. “Fear of Flying: Can a Feminist Classic be a Classic?” is open to the public and will be held at the Social Hall, Columbia University Union Theological Seminary, 3041 Broadway at 121st Street, in New York City, from 2:00 to 7:00 p.m. A reception will follow.
