Erica Jong
Advice to the Young

“Remember that if you write about sexuality they’re going to think it’s an invitation to fuck you or rape you. But go on writing about it anyway.” Iconic feminist writer Erica Jong shares a lifetime of hard earned lessons.

Infamous for writing candidly about sexuality, Erica Jong gives poignant advice to the young female writer: “Remember it’s twice as hard to be a female writer as a male writer.”

Jong has other pieces of advice: to only surround oneself with good people and never to trust one’s publisher. And finally, see Jong quote American poet Walt Whitman: “I celebrate myself, and sing myself,/ And what I assume you shall assume.”

Erica Jong (b. 1942) is an American novelist, essayist and poet. She has published more than 25 works of both fiction and non-fiction, but is most known for her 1973 novel ‘Fear of Flying’ which has been translated into more than 40 languages and sold over 27 million copies. In 2015 she published the sequel to her debut, ‘Fear of Dying”.

Erica Jong was interviewed by Pejk Malinovski during the Louisiana Literature festival in August 2016 in Copenhagen, Denmark

Camera: Klaus Elmer
Produced and Edited by: Kasper Bech Dyg
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2016

Supported by Nordea-fonden

Tags

Other videos in this series: Advice to the Young

Added to playlist
02:34 cover

“You should always read your heroes’ heroes.”

Ben Lerner: Advice to the Young

Added to playlist
01:08 POTTER_Sally_Advice_to_the_young_Cover_FINAL

“You have to find your own value system. And fight for it!”

Sally Potter
Advice to the Young

Added to playlist
03:17 MORI_Mariko_Advice to the Young_Cover_FINAL

"Creating things is the true nature of humans."

Mariko Mori 森 万里子
Advice to the Young

Added to playlist
02:49 VUONG_OCEAN_ADVICE_to_the_young_Cover_FINAL

“For so many queer folks, after a while, you realize that this road was never made with me in mind and I have to stop the car, get out of it and climb over the guard rail.”

Ocean Vuong
Advice to the Young

Added to playlist
ADICHIE_Chimamanda_Ngozi_advice_Cover_FINAL

“I often talk about how it’s so important to read widely.”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Advice to the Young

Added to playlist
01:29 WHITEREAD_Rachel_advice_to_the_young_Cover_FINAL

“Be true to yourself!”

Rachel Whiteread: Advice to the Young

Added to playlist
01:21 Graham Paul_Advice to the young_cover_FINAL

“Start working, make mistakes, keep going.”

Paul Graham
Advice to the Young

Added to playlist
04:40 VITAL_Not_Advice to the Young_Cover_FINAL

”Don’t try to push it.”

Not Vital
Advice to the Young 

Added to playlist
03:07 ParrMartin_Advice to the Young_Cover

“You are probably going to fail, so unless you are obsessed, almost like a disease, you are not going to make it.”

Martin Parr
Advice to the Young

Added to playlist
03:09 WOLF_Lina_Advice to the Young_Cover_FINAL

“I rewrite my texts fifty times perhaps because nothing is perfect from the beginning."

Lina Wolff
Advice to the Young

Added to playlist
1:14 KUMA_Kengo_Advice to the young_Cover_FINAL

”Travel to the farthest part of the world”

Kengo Kuma
Advice to the Young

Added to playlist
14:16 10 ARCHITECTS_Cover 1_Advice to the young_FINAL

“Empathy is one of the biggest superpowers you can have, almost in any field, but especially in architecture."

10 Architects
Advice to the Young

Related videos

Added to playlist
34:57 calle-beckwerk4xx940

Sophie Calle
Conversation with the Nameless

Added to playlist
12:21 nicole_krauss_great_house_still06_28_12_12_940_0

Nicole Krauss
Reading from Great House

Featured series

A Closer Look at Danish Writers

A series of extensive portraits

Series / 26 videos

Advice to the Young

Advice from one generation of artists to the next

Series / 69 videos

Ann Veronica Janssens

The Art of Physics

Series / 8 videos

Artists on One Work

Works of art explored by acclaimed artists

Series / 36 videos

Becoming Paul McCarthy

On the influential and groundbreaking contemporary American artist

Series / 3 videos

Facing the Blank Page

Writers talk about the horror of the blank page

Series / 16 videos

Get Inspired With

A series that draws close attention to the inspiration process

Series / 4 videos

My Last Picture

Artists reflect upon their last or final work.

Series / 3 videos

On Jørn Utzon

Architects on Danish architect Jørn Utzon

Series / 11 videos

On Marsden Hartley

Artists on American painter Marsden Hartley

Series / 5 videos

On Outer Space

Artists on Outer Space

Series / 12 videos

On Sonia Delaunay

4 perspectives on one of the great artists of the 20th century

Series / 4 videos

Poetry as a Performance

Poets on performing poetry

Series / 6 videos

Venice Biennale 2022

Artists exhibited at the Venice Biennale 2022

Series / 9 videos

Writers on Art

Artworks interpreted by acclaimed writers

Series / 7 videos

Editors' picks

Added to playlist
28:10New Struth Thomas_To Keep Things From Dying_Cover_FINAL

“My work is about the theatre of life.”

Thomas Struth
To Keep Things From Dying

Added to playlist
26:19 L_Pope_Making a Commitment to Art_Cover_FINAL

”I want to make sure I do things where I’m showing a commitment.”

Pope.L.
Making a Commitment to Art

Added to playlist
11:59 ROBERTS_Charlie_An Ode to Painting_Cover_FINAL

“The paintings that sing throughout time are the ones that caught this energy that is really hard to catch, so when people can catch that, it is amazing.”

Charlie Roberts: An Ode to Painting

Added to playlist
17:11 PIHLMANN_Søren_To_Embrace_What’s_Already_There_Cover_FINAL

“There is an honesty to raw materials. Building simply, using as few resources as possible, but doing it precisely and with absolute care is the inspiring source of our practice.”

Søren Pihlmann
To Embrace What’s Already There

Added to playlist
03:17 MORI_Mariko_Advice to the Young_Cover_FINAL

"Creating things is the true nature of humans."

Mariko Mori 森 万里子
Advice to the Young

Added to playlist
10:12 Suda_cover_final

"I didn't want to buy or gather flowers. I wanted to carve them."

Yoshihiro Suda
Carving After Nature

Added to playlist
19:56 FERNANDES_Brendan_My Work Is a Form of Protest_Cover_FINAL

“Dance is, for me, political. Dance is a means for protest.”

Brendan Fernandes: My Work Is a Form of Protest

Added to playlist
25:34 Engberg_final cover

"I once sat in my lounge 24 hours with a packed lunch, so I didn't have to move. I'd recommend it to everybody. It's just amazing, following the shifting light in your own home."

Marianne Engberg
Reading the Light

Added to playlist
24:41 MUJINGA_Sandra_I Cheer for the Monsters_Cover_FINAL

“There’s definitely an element of horror in my work. And I’m fascinated by the horror in itself.”

Sandra Mujinga
I Cheer For The Monsters

Added to playlist
17:54 SCHUTZ_Dana_the_edge_Cover_FINAL

“I think of colour as a material.”

Dana Schutz
At the Edge of the World

Added to playlist
03:22 RILEY_Terry_advice_to_the_young_Cover_FINAL

"If you know what you are doing in the arts, then you are doing it wrong."

Terry Riley
Advice to the Young

Added to playlist
05:27 BARLOW_Phyllida_Ar_ Is_Reaching_A_Critical_Point_Cover_FINAL

"In terms of how things are built, how things are waisted or retained, and I have to begin to examine that.”

Phyllida Barlow: Art Is Reaching A Critical Point

Copy to clipboard