Selected Poems.

LOWELL, Robert [Erica Jong].

$1,250.00

Item Number: 142530

New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1976.

First edition of this collection of over two hundred poems, selected by Lowell himself. Octavo, original cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “For Erica from Robert Lowell.” The recipient, Erica Jong remains best known for her 1973 novel Fear of Flying which became famously controversial for its portrayal of female sexuality and figured prominently in the development of second-wave feminism. Written in the first person and narrated by its protagonist, 29-year-old American poet Isadora Wing, Fear of Flying was written in the throes of the Sexual Revolution of the 1970s and encapsulated the movement’s redefinition of female sexuality. In interviews, Jong stated: “At the time I wrote Fear of Flying, there was not a book that said women are romantic, women are intellectual, women are sexual—and brought all those things together… What [Isadora is] looking for is how to be a whole human being, a body and a mind, and that is what women were newly aware they needed in 1973.” The novel remains a feminist classic and has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Guy Fleming. With Jong’s ownership signature to the pastedown. An exceptional association.

There are more than two hundred poems in this volume, chosen by Robert Lowell from each of his books of verse: Lord Weary's Castle, The Mills of the Kavanaughs, Life Studies, For the Union Dead, Near the Ocean, History, For Lizzie and Harriet, and The Dolphin.