Yes, the line between fiction and non-fiction has blurred in the past several decades. Henry Miller blurred it, as did William Burroughs and Hunter Thompson. I wrote a mock-memoir in Fear of Flying (1973) and added to the tendency — though I did cover my rampant exaggerations by calling the book a novel. It was my critics who claimed it as autobiography, not me. I always copped to the fact that it was full of made-up stuff and that I made stuff up for the sake of laughs. "Don't cut funny" has been my writing mantra since I started.Actually, pointing you to Ms. Jong's op-ed is just a good excuse for me to finally get around to doing something that's years overdue. Furthermore, I never had a public platform from which to do this particular thing until now. Another "I Heart Technology" moment. Blogs. Gotta love 'em. Anyway, here's that thing:
Thank you, Erica Jong. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I was one of Ms. Jong's biggest fans when Fear of Flying came out. I must have bought seven copies of that book and gave them ALL away to women I wanted to sleep with (I did read the book. And enjoyed it immensely.). I gave them away serially, of course, not simultaneously. You may be surprised to hear the ploy worked about half the time. Or maybe the women that did sleep with me after I gave them the book would have done so, anyway. I'll never know.
But thanks, again, Erica. You made at least part of that '70s thing more than bearable.
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